243 THE IMPROVED ART OF FARRIERY. 



of attack as circumstances occur. Thus, when tlie 

 skin is primarily affected the stomach becomes second- 

 arily so, and vice versa. In the application of cold to 

 the surface it appears clear that the primary cause 

 originates with the morbid attack on the skin ; and 

 when we consider the structure and functions of this 

 investure of the body, we need be at no loss to account 

 for an inelastic or binding feel of the hide as one of the 

 distinct marks of want of condition. 



Hide-bound it may therefore be inferred is not to 

 be considered as being in itself a specific disease, but, 

 on the contrary, as a symptom only, common to any 

 state which deranges the secretory, and perhaps, also, 

 the excretory, functions of the skin, and it thus ac- 

 companies by a common consent of part most chronic ' 

 affections of long standing. A long-continued gleet 

 from the nasal membranes in glanders will produce it ; 

 a local attack of farcy on the hinder extremities brings 

 it on ; and the integumental affections of cracks, grease, 

 and mange, claim it as a companion also. In fact any 

 means which are capable of producing an absorption 

 of the cellular and membraneous medium between the 

 skin and muscular expansion by which its motions are 

 regulated, binds it down so firmly to this fleshy panical 

 as to confine its extension and destroy its usual elasticity. 



The treatment of hide-binding must necessarily 

 therefore blend itself with the general treatment of 

 morbid condition. The primary affection of the skin 

 is not always, however, confined to an elasticity of the 

 hide nor to the staring of the hair upon it, for some- 

 times, from a kind of reaction and process in the de- 

 ranged and obstructed vessels, small tumours become 

 formed, generally extending pretty universally over the 

 skin, which affection has received the name of Surfeit. 



Surfeit, w^hich is likewise considered as a distinct 



