DISEASES OF THE OX AND SHEEP. 583 



There is some little difficulty in treating nicely and 

 scientifically of the diseases of the skin. Although a great deal 

 is known about the skin diseases of oxen — albeit much more 

 remains still to be learned — yet there is not so very much which 

 is of real practical utility, so far at least as science has already 

 advanced in this direction. They are, in short, more interesting 

 from the scientific than from the business-like point of view. 

 Our readers will, of course, understand that this is very far from 

 being the case in regard to the disorders which attack the human 

 skin, the treatment of which has advanced to a high degree of 

 precision. Yet the skin diseases of all animals present numerous 

 points of relationship, and hence throw light upon those which 

 afflict human beings. 



One of the obstacles to a judicious consideration of our 

 subject springs from the well known fact that the skin in all 

 classes of animals suffers as the result of various general or blood- 

 diseases, and consequently some kinds of eruption on the skin 

 may, in whatsoever animal they appear, be signs of the severest 

 of diseases. For instance, we find the skin of the ox attacked 

 in cow-pox, epizootic aphtha, purpura heemorrhagica, scarlet 

 fever, rinderpest, and so on. In our remarks we shall for the 

 chief part confine ourselves to diseases of the skin, qua diseases 

 of the skin, and not in reference to their effects on, or their 

 connection with, the system at large. 



The ox's skin is tough and covered with hair, and it differs 

 with regard to the closeness of its connection with the 

 underlying tissues, being very loose in some parts, as, for 

 instance, where it forms the dewlap. In a healthy animal it 

 is soft and pliable, and the coat is glossy and smooth ; but in an 

 unhealthy one it is very liable to become dry and also tightly 

 bound down to the tissues subjacent to it. The ox is then 

 spoken of as being " hide-bound.^' In these cases the sebaceous 

 secretion whereby the glossy appearance is imparted in a healthy 

 ox is imperfectly produced. Sometimes a mild cathartic dose 

 may be very beneficial, but the primary cause should always be 

 looked to. 



Hide-bound is generally accompanied by a *' staring coat," 

 which is occasioned by the hairs standing more or less upright, 

 the minute muscles which move them being contracted. This 

 " staring coat," as it is very suggestively termed, is, however. 



