302 THE MODERN HORSE DOCTOR. 



"The first thing I did after this was to remove ray hen roost, 

 and scald and whitewash the stable. I have not been troubled 

 with hen lice getting on my horse since. I have heard of similar 

 cases, where horses have been afflicted in the same way ; hence 

 I consider it safest not to build a hen house behind the stable." 



This affection has become so common of late among horses in 

 the United States, and as the majority of their owners are almost 

 in the dark regarding it, we here introduce to the reader an inter- 

 esting article from the pen of Mons. II. Bouley, translated from 

 the French, by Mr. Percivall : — 



"Amongst these there is one, interesting alike as regards its 

 cause, its mode of manifestation, and its treatment, which has been 

 confounded with general itch or mange ; to which, indeed, it bears 

 some resemblance, in consisting, as it does, of the existence of a 

 parasitic animal, and which must be destroyed ere the disease 

 will disappear. To this variety of p h thyriasis* M. Bouley has 

 given the name of the Poultry Lousiness, (phthyriasis des oiseaux,) 

 on account of the unique cause giving origin to it, as well as by 

 way of distinguishing it from the pedicular t disease peculiar to 

 horses. 



" Its commencement is instantaneous. All at once the horse is 

 seized with a violent, continued general itching. So sudden and 

 irresistible is the desire the animal possesses to scratch himself, 

 that he is not easy for a single moment. He rubs his skin 

 against every resisting body near him, stamps the ground con- 

 tinually, strikes his belly, bites every place he can reach with his 

 mouth; manifesting, by his continual movements, the burning 

 itching by which he is devoured. At night his torments increase; 

 so much so, that should the animal be abandoned to himself, he 

 rubs and bites himself to that degree, that he tears his skin, and 

 carries portions away in his mouth, denuding himself extensively 

 of his scarf skin ; nor does he relax until smarting pains succeed 

 the insupportable torments of the itching. 



" At the time these symptoms of prurience } are making their 

 appearance, the skin is the seat of an eruption of very small vesi- 

 cles^ some solitary — others, in greater number, congregate, 



* Lousiness. J Itching. 



t From pedicidus, a louse. § Small eruptions containing fluid. 



