440 BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



a poultice put over it, the formation of matter and separation of the 

 core is often hastened. A mixture of sugar and soap hiid on the boil 

 is equally good. Cleanliness of the skin and the avoidance of all 

 causes of irritation are important items, and a teaspoonful of bicar- 

 bonate of soda onco or twice a day "will sometimes assist in Marding off 

 a new crop. 



XETTLERASH (sURFEIT, OR URTICARIA). 



This is an eruption in the form of cutaneous nodules, in size from 

 a hazelnut to a hickory nut, transient, with little disposition to the 

 formation of either blister or pustule, and usuall}'^ connected with 

 shedding of the coat, sudden changes of weather, and unwholesome- 

 ness or sudden change in the food. It is most frequent in the 

 spring and in young and vigorous animals (good feeders). The swell- 

 ing eml) races the entire thickness of the skin and terminates b}'- an 

 abrupt margin in place of shading off into surrounding parts. When 

 the individual swellings run together there are formed extensive 

 patches of thickened integument. These may appear on an}' part of 

 the bod}', and may be general; the eyelids may be closed, the lips 

 rendered immovable, or the nostrils so thickened that breathing 

 becomes difficult and snuffling. It may be attended by constipation 

 or diarrhea or by colicky pains. The eruption is sudden, the whole 

 skin being sometimes covered in a few hours, and it may disappear 

 with equal rapidity or persist for six or eight days. 



Treatment. — This consists in clearing out the bowels by 5 drams 

 Barbados aloes, or 1 pound Glauber's salts, and follow the operation 

 of these by daily doses of one-half ounce powdered gentian and 1 ounce 

 Glauber's salts. A weak solution of alum may be applied to the 

 swellings. 



SCALY SKIX DISEASE, OR PITYRIASIS. 



This affection is characterized by an excessive production and detach- 

 ment of dry scales from the surface of tlie skin (dandruff). It is usually 

 dependent on some fault in digestion and an imperfect secretion from 

 the sebaceous glands, and is most common in old horses with spare 

 habit of body. Williams attributes it to food rich in saccftarine matter 

 (carrots, turnips) and to the excretion by the skin of oxalic acid. He 

 has found it in horses irregularly worked and w^ell fed, and advises the 

 administration of pitch for a length of time, and the avoidance of sac- 

 charine food. Otherwise the horse may take a laxative followed by 

 dram doses of carbonate of potash, and the affected parts may be 

 bathed with soft tepid water and smeared with an ointment made with 

 vaseline and sulphur. In obstinate cases sulphur may be given daily 

 in the food. 



