344 THE SKIN AND ITS DISEASES. 



generally be tlie case, but be is not equal to tlie demands -wliicli we are 

 comjtelled to make upon him. 



This process goes on for an uncertain time, depending on the consti- 

 tution of the animal, until nature has effected a change, and then he once 

 more rallies ; but a gi-eat alteration has taken place in him- — the haii' has 

 lost its soft and glossy character, and is become dry and staring. The skin 

 ceases to secrete that peculiar unctuous matter which kept it soft and 

 flexible, and becomes dry and scaly ; and the exhalents on the sui'face, 

 ha^^ng become relaxed, are frequently pouring out a profuse perspii'ation, 

 without any apparent adequate cause for it. 



So passes the approach to winter, and the owner complains sadly of the 

 appearance of his steed, and, according to the old custom, gives him plenty 

 of cordial balls, — perhaps too many of them, — on the whole not being 

 unserviceable at this critical period, yet not productive of a great deal of 

 good. At length the animal rallies of himself, and although not so strong 

 and fall of spirits as he ought to be, is hardier and more hvely than he was, 

 and able to struggle with the cold of the coming winter. 



What a desideratum in the management of the horse would be a course 

 of treatment that would render all this unnecessary ! This desideratum 

 has been found — a free escape of perspii^ation, a moist and softened state of 

 the skin, and evident increase of health and capabihty of enduring fatigue, 

 and working on shorter supply of food than he could before. This is per- 

 formed by the clipping and singeing systems. 



Mr. Thomas Turner, who was almost one of the earliest advocates of these 

 systems, states, in the fourteenth vol. of the 'Veterinarian,' that during the 

 months of October and November an inordinate gTOwth of hair is observed 

 over the whole surface of the body, and in many horses as early as the 

 beginning of September, and almost invariably prevails, more or less, in 

 every horse that is not thorough-bred. The debilitating effects thereby 

 induced are profuse perspii'ation on the least possible exertion^ — depression 

 of the animal spirits, and temporary loss of appetite. The removal of all 

 the superfluous hair by close clipping, instantly proves so powerful a tonic 

 to the animal, that he unhesitatingly affirms it to be inferior to none at 

 present known in our pharmacopoeia. 



We may not, perhaps, be able satisfactorily to explain the apparently 

 magical effects of clipping and singeing on the general constitution, and 

 pai'ticularly the ^vind of the horse, or the respiratory functions generally, 

 but there is no doubt of their existence. An increased tone is given to the 

 system generally ; and, probably, in some way not yet sufiiciently developed, 

 the increased current of the electric fluid may have much to do wdth it. 



j\Ir. Snewing gives an interesting account of the effect of clipping on two 

 horses in his establishment. He had a cob, with a fixed catarrh of several 

 months' standing. It did not interfere with the animal's general health, 

 but was a source of considerable annoyance. At length the owner deter- 

 mined to sell him ; but first he had him clipped. After a few days his 

 attention was drawn to the circumstance, that either the horse's cough 

 must have left him, or, from repeatedly hearing it, he had ceased to regard 

 it. He watched the animal, and, truly enough, he foujid that the cough 

 had entirely disappeared. He rode him though the winter and the follow- 

 ing summer, and there was no return of it. 



The other instance was in a mare which he had after this one was sold. 

 In the months of August, September, and October, 1841, she was con- 

 tinually the subject of intermittent cough. He had her clipped, and in a 

 few days she ceased to cough, and has not been heard to cough from that 

 time. 



