DISEASES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 35 



fomentation for some time, for even four or five hours. It may be neces- 

 sary in this case to open the abscess much sooner than in the former 

 case. Another relief is tracheotomy. Put the tube in, and allow the 

 animal to breathe through the tube. It is not a very difficult operation 

 in most cases, but if in a very large horse, or one that is badly swollen, 

 you may have to make an incision two or three inches long ; but it is not 

 necessary to make a round hole. Be careful and do not push the cartil- 

 age in when inserting the tube ; or, you may not have a tube at hand, 

 and you may just cut a hole through the trachea and keep the muscles 

 back, or just cut a circular piece out, which will give temporary relief. 

 The treatment after tracheotomy would be just the same to bring on 

 suppuration. After some twenty-four hours, take out the tube, wash it, 

 and again insert it. When done with the tube, just bring the sides 

 of the wound together, and put a stitch through it, and it will heal very 

 well as a general thing ; but this operation should be performed before 

 the system becomes too much vitiated. The character of the breathing 

 and of the circulation, also, is to be noticed, and be careful in performing 

 this in a very valuable animal. 



Results of strangles, or absorption of pus, pyaemia, or abscesses form- 

 ing in many parts of the body. The tumour may extend up to the ear, 

 or down even to the leg. If it is in close connection with the parotid 

 duct, be very careful, for you might produce fistula of the duct. Keep 

 the animal away from cows ; give pure air. There is no specific for 

 strangles. It is sometimes necessary to give a light laxative, which is 

 the exception and not the rule : but it is necessary in most cases to give 

 injections. It is seen more in some countries than in others. It is not 

 seen so much in well-bred horses as in ill-bred horses. The Arabian 

 horses are especially exempt from this disease. 



DISEASES OF THE SKIN. 



The skin is a dense, white, porous, sensitive membrane. The skin and 

 mucous membranes are much alike. The skin protects the flesh from 

 noxious vapours and external injuiT. There are two layers of the skin, 

 an external and an internal. The internal is extremely tough, sensitive 

 and vascular ; and there is a cuticle, or scarf skin, which is formed on 

 the surface of the true skin. Dandruff is simply cells of the skin thrown 

 off. 



The skin varies much in thickness on different parts of the body, 

 and on different animals ; and in applying counter irritation you 

 must be careful. The appendages of the skin are sebaceous and sudori- 

 ferous glands. In the lower animals the body is covered with hair, vary- 

 ing as to climate, season, etc. There are two kinds of hair — the mane 

 and tai , and that known as the coat, or that which covers the body. 

 Each hair is divide t into a shaft, point, and root. The sebaceous glands 

 are small, and are lodged in the true skin, and secretes a fluid which lub- 

 ricates the skin, and keeps it and the hair in good condition. These 

 glands are very numerous, especially about the fetlock, heel, hock, etc. 

 The secretion of these glands is of an oily character; they are called 

 sweat glands, through which impurities are carried from the body. They 

 are in the true layer of the skin. One square inch covers about two 

 thousand of these pores. Their secretion passes oft" as eith-^r sensible or 

 insensible perspiration, which is very free in the horse and in man 



The dermis consists of two layers— the deep or true eorium, and an 

 upper or papillary layer. The tactile corpuscles are elevations on the 

 eorium. The rete mucosum is the deep, soft layer of the epidermis. 



