LICE 583 



to be killed from this cause. Experiments upon the human skin have gone 

 to prove that, if transferred to it, the sarcoptcs of the liorse will live and 

 even multiply for a time, but not establish a permanent home. 



3. The Symbiotes are not nearly so active, and affect chiefly the hairy 

 legs of heavy horses, seldom i^ising above the knee. They cause the animal 

 to rub one leg against the other and to stamp the ground, which is a symp- 

 tom of grease, and for which it is no doubt often mistaken. 



Treatment. — For this disease we have fortunately a specific, discovered by 

 the old Friars, whose piety was more remarkable than their cleanliness. 

 Sulphur is a certain cure for the itch of man, and making some time allow- 

 ance for hair and cuticular thickening in horses, we may make the same claim 

 for it, but it must be used in such a manner as to come into actual contact 

 with the enemy, who can also be attacked from within. A very good dress- 

 ing can be made by mixing together a gill of oil-of-tar, a quarter-pound of 

 sulphur (flowers of sulphui', also called sublimed sulphur), and half-a-gallon 

 of linseed oil ; olive or other seed oils are equally good, but expensive. This 

 may be applied with a water brush, a certain amount of friction being not 

 unwelcome to the patient, who will lean towards the hand that rubs him. 

 In an established case, when a lot of white, dry scab has become deposited 

 upon the surface, it may be necessary to first wash the horse with soft soap 

 and warm water to enable the lotion to penetrate. Paraffin is a popular 

 remedy, and effectual, but it is liable to blister', and if used should be diluted 

 with two or three parts of some bland oil, as linseed or cotton-seed oil, together 

 with sulphur. A second or third dressing should be used at intervals of 

 three or four days, as the eggs may not be destroyed, and a fresh crop result. 



Sulphur may also be given internally, as it is exhaled by the skin,^ and in 

 this way contributes towards the destruction of mange mites. 



Sulphur and train-oil is an old remedy of repute, and mercurial ointment 

 or the compound sulphur ointment may do for circumscribed patches of the 

 first and third forms of mange. 



All clothing should be destroyed unless it will admit of boiling. Harness 

 and saddlery is to be thoroughly dressed over with the lotion. 



LICE 



In former days lice were not uncommon in the horse, but they are 

 now comparatively rare. Still they are occasionally met with, and their 

 presence is readily ascertained, being of a considerable size, and easily seen 

 with the naked eye. They may be destroyed by rubbing into the roots of 

 the hair white precipitate, in powder, taking care to avoid sweating the 

 horse or wetting his skin for some days afterwards. 



With farm horses, especially those which have wintered on barley straw, 

 there may be too many to deal with as above, and the patients should be 

 first washed on a sunny morning with soft soap and warm water, and after- 

 wards treated to a dressing of Jeyes' Fluid, in the proportion of one to fifty 

 of warm water, and then walked about until dry. If sufficient oil is used, 

 lice may be suffocated without any other dressing, but it takes a great 



1 Proof of this is given by the blackening of silver watches worn by persons taking 

 suli)hur for some time. 



^ QQ 



