DISEASES OF THE SKIN AND EARS., 281 



descriptions which the English veterinarians give of mange, 

 it must exist in a materially worse form in Great Britain and 

 on the continent than in this country. So mild are many 

 cases here, that a single hleeding, with the run of a good 

 pasture, will bring about a cure almost without medication 

 or other treatment of any sort. 



The disease may be successfully treated in all its stages, 

 but will hold out in proportion to the length of time it has 

 been running, and the reduction of flesh, strength, and vigor 

 which it has occasioned. A lean, emaciated, mangy horse 

 it is a no small task to cure, while one with tolerable flesh 

 and scarcely impaired health will recover with the aid of 

 but very light treatment. 



In the case of the poor, feeble animal, liie disease is con- 

 stitutional. It has been brought into being by poverty and 

 debility,- by the lack of a suflScient degree of vital energy to 

 throw out the unctuous secretions to the surface of the skin. 

 It aftects the blood and general system to a sad extent. 

 Constitutional remedies will here prove absolutely essential. 

 In the case of the horse in a passable condition of health and 

 strength, mange is the result of infection only, and extends 

 its effects little, if at all, beyond the skin itself. Local treat- 

 ment will readily remove it, and, as before intimated, the 

 forces of iN'ature will sometimes prove almost sufficient to 

 throw it off without additional assistance. 



TREATMENT. 



Bleed the horse in proportion to the hold which the dis- 

 ease seems to have secured upon the system. We do not 

 believe, with the majority of writers, that moderate bleeding 

 of the horse, while diseased, tends to enfeeble him. Our ex- 

 perience leads to an entirely opposite conclusion. We have 

 repeatedly taken the diseased horse when so low that he 

 could not rise to his feet without help, and, after bleeding 

 him freely, have seen him begin to amend from that time, and 

 continue to improve until quite well. This subject will be more 

 fully discussed in the section on Bleeding, in Chapter XV. 



