.'WO SURFEIT. — ^rA^TiE. 



SURFEIT. 



Large pimples or eruptions often appear suddenly on the skin of the 

 horse, and especially in the spring of the year. Occasionally they disap- 

 pear as quickly as they came. Sometimes they seem to be attended with 

 great itching, but at other times the annoyance is comparatively little. 

 ^V^Ien these eruptions have remained a few days, the cuticle frequently 

 peels off, and a small scaly spot — rarely a sore — is left. This is called a 

 surfeit, from its resemblance to some eruptions on the skin of the human 

 being when indigestible or unwholesome food has been taken. The surfeit 

 is, in some cases, confined to the neck ; but it oftener spreads over the 

 sides, back, loins, and quarters. The cause is enveloped in some obscurity. 

 The disease most frequently appears when the skin is irritable during or 

 after the process of moulting, or when it sympathises with any disorder of 

 the stomach. It has been kno^\m to follow the eating of poisonous herbs 

 or mow-burnt hay, but, much oftener, it is to be traced to exposure to cold 

 when the skin was previously irritable, and the horse heated by exercise. 

 It has also been attributed to the immoderate drinking of cold water when 

 the animal was hot. It is obstruction of some of the pores of the skin 

 and swelling of the surrounding substance, either from primary affection 

 of the skin, or a plethoric state of the system, or sympathy with the 

 diofestive org-ans. 



The state of the patient will sufficiently guide the surgeon as to the 

 course he should piu^sue. If there is simple eruption, without any marked 

 inflammatory action, alteratives should be t-esorted to, and particularly 

 those recommended for hide-bound in page 349. They should be given 

 on several successive nights. The night is better than the morning, be- 

 cause the warmth of the stable will cause the antimony and sulphur to 

 act more powerfully on the skin. The horse should be warmly clothed — 

 half an hour's walking exercise should be given, an additional rug being 

 thrown over him — such green meat as can be procured should be used in 

 moderate quantities, and the chill should be taken from the water. 



Should the eruption continue or assume a more vii^ulent character, 

 bleeding and aloetic physic must be had recourse to, but neither should 

 be carried to any extreme. The physic haAdng set, the alteratives should 

 again be had recourse to, and attention should be paid to the comfort and 

 diet of the horse. 



K the eruption, after several of these alternate appearances and disap- 

 pearances, should remain, and the cuticle and the hair begin extensively to 

 peel off", a worse affection is to be feared, for surfeit is too apt to precede, 

 or degenerate into, mange. This disorder, therefore, must next be con- 

 sidered. 



MANGE. 



This disease aflPects most of our domesticated animals, in different forms, 

 and in the human subject a similar disease is known by the name of itch. 

 In an animal affected with mange, the cuticle and the hair fall off, and 

 there is, as in obstinate surfeit, a bare spot covered with scurf — some fluid 

 oozing from the skin beneath, and this changing to a scab, which hkewise 

 soon peels off, and leaves a Avider spot. This process is attended by con- 

 siderable itching and tenderness, and thickening of the skin, which soon 

 becomes more or less folded, or piickered. The mange generally first ap- 

 pears on the neck at the root of the mane, and its existence may be 

 suspected even before the blotches appear, and when there is only con- 

 siderable itchiness of the part, by the ease with which the short hair at 

 the root of the mane is plucked out. From the neck it spreads upward 



