THE MODERN HORSE DOCTOR. 301 



also that fowl breeders (who, in a great majority of cases, are 

 horse owners) should know that there is such an evil in exist- 

 ence ; having, as will be seen hereafter, a well-defined cause oper- 

 ating, not beyond their comprehension, but which, in such case, 

 is invariably present, and cognizant to the perceptive faculties of 

 every thinking man. 



In the treatment of disease, our first business is to discover, as 

 near as circumstances permit, its cause, and then, if possible, to 

 remove it. In such a case as this, we might treat the cutaneous 

 affection, but with little credit to ourselves or profit to our em- 

 ployer, unless the cause be removed. A writer in the Rural 

 New Yorker thus alludes to the matter : — 



" During the early season of my keeping fowls, I had their 

 roosting-place adjoining the stall where I kept my horse, with a 

 partition between. I think it was the second year after I kept 

 my hens in this manner, that I discovered there was something 

 the matter with my horse. He showed a disposition to rub and 

 bite himself; but for a long time I paid little regard to it, think- 

 ing he would soon be over it; but it seemed to increase upon him 

 I could fit up no stall nor partition of sufficient strength to resist 

 his efforts. I could leave him nowhere unhitched; and if 1 

 hitched him, he would soon break loose, and get to some place 

 where he could rub. For six months or more, he continued in 

 this manner, before I ascertained what ailed him. I tried various 

 remedies for humors in the blood, bled him copiously, drenched 

 him with physic till he could hardly stand ; and all to no effect. 

 He was a large and valuable horse commonly, but at this stage 

 of matters he was truly a sight to behold. He was minus his 

 mane, and was in nearly the same condition with his tail ; his 

 sides lacerated and naked, in consequence of his continual rubbing 

 and biting. At last the thought struck me that the animal might 

 be lousy ; and, on close examination, I found he was literally 

 covered with small hen lice ; and they adhered so closely to the 

 skin, that it was almost impossible to comb out one with a fine 

 comb. I now changed my course of doctoring, and by dint of 

 perseverance, through the application of various remedies for the 

 destruction of lice, in the course of six or eight weeks I succeeded 

 in effecting a perfect cure. 

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