SURFEIT. 265 



for physic. May 7th. Yesterday, the physic operated; it 

 indeed still purges a little. And now the lumps, both large 

 and small, are all but gone : only slight elevations in their 

 places can be perceived. 



Eruptions are those little lumps or pustules, which horses 

 in high condition, or progressing to that state, have break 

 out upon their skins, — more especially during the spring 

 of the year. They constitute a determined form of surfeit. 

 Their appearance is sudden; often they quickly disappear. 

 Sometimes they rise in almost every part of the body : more 

 commonly they are partial. I have known the eruption 

 vanish and re-appear for several days together. A case of 

 this description was treated by my father: the lumps were 

 as large as marbles, but disappeared a few hours after their 

 eruption; breaking out afresh on the following third or 

 fourth day, and doing so several times. The variable mag- 

 nitude of these lumps — some being small and hard ; others 

 large and spreading — with the different times of their 

 appearance and other circumstances, lead us to believe they 

 cannot all proceed from the same disorder. Hurtrel d^Arboval 

 distinguishes two varieties — partial and general. 



" In the first, the lumps are few, diffused, and isolated, nowise affect 

 the health of the animal, though at times they occasion itching. They 

 last fifteen days or three weeks, sometimes much longer. They disappear 

 by resolution, without leaving marks of their existence. They do not 

 always vanish in this way : now and then they become converted into 

 abscesses, which burst, discharge a serous fluid, and, become crusted 

 over. 



" In the second variety, the lumps arise at once, and upon almost every 

 part of the body. They are unequal : some are small, some large. All 

 of them are flattened, and disposed in groups, presenting often little 

 vesicles, from which issue a glutinous fluid. The animal's health is dis- 

 turbed. The appetite is impaired ; the skin warmer than usual ; the 

 visible membranes flushed ; respiration accelerated ; pulse full and hard. 

 Eruption, attended with itching and fever, may turn out serious, through 

 metastasis, as frequently happens in young horses that, during the pre- 

 vious winter, have suffered from hard work and poor living. The most 

 common metastasis is that of the air-passages ; and it is one likely to 

 ensue when the eruption suddenly disappears." 



