DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 439 



eruptions on white portions of the skin. Disorders of the kidne3's or 

 liver are common causes of this aii'ection. 



Treatrrient. — Apply soothing ointments, such as benzoated oxide of 

 zinc, or vaseline with 1 dram oxide of zinc in each ounce. Or a wash 

 of 1 dram sugar of lead or 2 drams hyposulphite of soda in a quart of 

 w^ater may be freely applied. If the skin is already abraded and 

 scabby, smear thickly y>^ith vaseline for some hours, then wash with 

 soapsuds and apply the above dressings. When the excoriations are 

 indolent they may be painted with a solution of lunar caustic, 2 grains 

 to 1 ounce of distilled water. Internally counteract costiveness and 

 remove intestinal irritants bj^ the same means as in eczema, and fol- 

 low this with one-half ounce doses daily of hyposulphite of soda, and 

 one-half ounce doses of gentian. Inveterate cases may often be bene- 

 fited by a course of sulphur, bisulphite of soda, or arsenic. In all, the 

 greatest care must be taken with regard to food, feeding, watering, 

 cleanliness, and work. In wet and cold seasons predisposed animals 

 should, so far as possible, be protected from wet, mud, snow, and 

 melted snow — above all, from that which has been melted by salt. 



BOILS, OR FURUNCLES. 



These ma\* appear on any part of the skin, but are especially com- 

 mon on the lower parts of the limbs, and on the shoulders and back 

 where the skin is irritated by accmnulated secretion and chafing with 

 the harness. In other cases the cause is constitutional, or attended 

 by unwholesome diet and overwork with loss of general health and 

 condition. Thej' also follow on weakening diseases, notably strangles, 

 in which irritants are retained in the system from overproduction of 

 poisons and effete matters during fever, and imperfect elimination. 

 There is also the presence of a pyogenic bacterium, by which the 

 disease may be maintained and propagated. 



While boils are pus-producing, they differ from simple pustule in 

 afl'ecting the deepest la3'ers of the true skin, and even the superficial 

 laj-ers of the connective tissues beneath, and in the death and slough- 

 ing out of the central part of the inflamed mass (core). The depth of 

 the hard, indurated, painful swelling, and the formation of this central 

 mass or cor% which is bathed in pus and slowly separated from sur- 

 rounding parts, serve to distinguish the boil alike from the pustule, 

 from the farcy bud, and from a superficial abscess. 



Treatment.— To treat very painful boils a free incision with a lancet 

 in two directions, f ollov.ed b}- a dressing with one-half an ounce carbolic 

 acid in a pint of water, l)ound on with cotton wool or lint, may cut them 

 short. The more common course is to apply a warm poultice of lin- 

 seed meal or wheat bran, and renew daily until the center of the boil 

 softens, when it should be lanced and the core pressed out. 



If the boil is smeared with a blistering ointment of Spanish flies and 



