CEDEMA. 81 



irritants should never be used. Veratrum gr. xx., once or 

 twice daily, is recommended as an absorbent. A run at 

 pasture for a week or two will afford material assistance to 

 medicinal agents. A little exercise now and then is highly 

 beneficial. 



CHAPTER V. 



THE TEGUMENTAL SYSTEM. 



The skin, or tegumental system, envelops the body, 

 and it differs in thickness in different parts of the same 

 body, as well as in different animals. It is very porous and 

 exceedingly elastic. In some parts of the body it is loosely 

 attached, while in some other parts it is tightly attached. 

 It is made up of the cutis, or true skin, and the epidermis, 

 or scarf skin. The corium, or under, and the papillary, or 

 upper layer, form the true skin. The skin serves for pur- 

 poses of protection, and becomes continuous with the 

 mucous membrane at the lips, anus, etc. The appendages 

 of the skin are hair, sebaceous and sudoriferous, or sweat 

 glands, follicles, etc. The soft, smooth hair covering the body 

 of the horse is known as the coat, while the coarse hair 

 of the mane and tail is referred to as horsehair. Whenever 

 a hair-bulb is completely destroyed, the hair is never repro- 

 duced. In fever the hair becomes harsh and dry, due, no 

 doubt, to the fever affecting the hair follicle. The sudo- 

 riferous glands are very abundant and highly developed in 

 the horse ; for this reason the horse perspires more freely 

 than any other animal. Perspiration prevents too great a 

 rise of temperature, and relieves the system to a great 

 extent, and more particularly during severe exertion. It is 

 computed that there are about two thousand of those glands 

 to the square inch of the body surface. The sudoriferous, 

 as well as the sebaceous, glands are more numerous in the 

 flexures of the heels, hocks, knees, etc., and those parts are 



6 



