390 SOUNDNESS AND UNSOUNDNESS. 



work should then be scoured with soap and water, after which a second washino with 

 the chloride of lime will render all secure. Some farmers have pulled down their 

 stables, when they have been thoroughly infected with mange. This is beino" unne- 

 cessarily cautious. The efficacy of the chloride of lime was not then known; but 

 if that is carefully and sufficiently applied to every part of the stable and its furni- 

 ture, there cannot atterwards be danger. 



Every case of itchiness of tlie skin should be regarded with suspicion. When a 

 horse is seen to rub the root of his tail, or his head, or neck, against the manger, the 

 varts should be carefully examined. Some of the hair may have been rubbed or torn 

 ufi', but if the roots remain firmly adherent, and there is only redness and not scurfi- 

 ness of the skin, it probably is not mange, but only inflammation of the skin, from 

 too great fulness of blood. A little blood should be abstracted — a purgative admin- 

 istered — and the alteratives given. The mange ointment cannot do harm, and may 

 possibl}- prevent this heat of the skin from degenerating into mange, or arrest the 

 progress of mange if it has commenced. If a scurfiness of skin should appear on 

 any of the points that are pressed upon by the collar or harness, the veterinary sur- 

 geon will do right to guard against danger by alterative medicine and the use of the 

 ointment. 



WARTS. 



'Fnese are tumours of variable size, arising from the cuticle, and afterwards con- 

 nected with the true skin by means of the vessels which supply the growth of the 

 tumours. They are found on the eyelids, the muzzle, the ears, the belly, the neck, 

 the penis, and the prepuce. There are some caustics available, but frequently they 

 must be removed by an operation. If the root is very small, it may be snipped asun- 

 der, close to the skin, with a pair of scissors, and touched with the lunar caustic. If 

 the pedicle or stem is somewhat larger, a ligature of w axed silk should be passed 

 firmly round it, and tightened every day. The source of nutriment being thus re- 

 moved, the tumour will, in a short time, die and drop oft". If the warts are large, or 

 in considerable clusters, it will be necessary to cast the horse, in order to cut them 

 off close to the skin : the root should then be seared with a red-hot iron. Unless 

 these precautions are used, the warts will speedily sprout again. 



VERMIN. 



Both the biped and the quadruped are subject to the visitation of insects, that fasten 

 on the skin, and are a constant nuisance from the itchiness which they occasion. If 

 the horse, after being turned out for the winter, is taken up in the spring, long and 

 rough in his coat, and poor in condition, and with evident hide-bound, he will almost 

 invariably be afflicted with vermin. 



In our present imperfect acquaintance with natural history, it is difficult to account 

 for the appearance of certain insects, and of those alone, on the integument of one 

 animal, while others of an altogether different character are found on its neighbour. 

 Each one has a tormentor peculiar to itself. 



The vermin of the horse is destroyed by an infusion of tobacco, or a solution of 

 corrosive sublimate, the latter re<juiring the greatest caution. The skin being once 

 cleansed of them, an attention to cleanliness will prevent their reappearance. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

 ON^SOUNDNESS, AND THE PURCHASE AND SALE OF HORSES. 



There are few sources of greater annoyance both to the piu'cliaser and the seller 

 of the horse than dis])utes with regnrd to tlie soundness of lh(^ animal. Although, 

 in describing the various parts of tlie liorsts we have glanced at the cimexion of cer- 

 tain natural conformations, and some alterations of structure, and accidents, and dis- 

 eases, with the question of soundness or unsoundness, it may n"t be uninteresting to 

 those for whom our work is designed, if we now bring into one point of view the 

 substance of that which has been scattered over many pages. 



That horse is sound in whom there is no disease, and no alteration of structure that 



