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DISEASES OF THE SKIN AND EARS. 235 



contracted, fitting so closely about the joints that they lose 

 their suppleness and grow so stiff that the horse can not 

 mo^^e them without painful exertion. The muscles and ten- 

 dons, especially those of the legs, become stiff, and fairly seem 

 to contract. The horse's movements, thus seriously retarded, 

 are dull, heavy, and stumbling. 



TREATMENT. 



Bleed copiously from the neck vein, removing at least a 

 gallon of blood. This will relax the system and stimulate 

 the lagging or suspended functions of Secretion. The ne- 

 cessity for bleeding arises, not from a superabundance of 

 blood, but from its diseased condition, which retards it proper 

 circulation, and eventuates in more or less of fever and 

 inflammation. The absorbents of the system act .with such 

 diflSculty that medication is of little service as a means of 

 purifying the blood. In fact, our experience has convinced 

 us that alteratives, so called, do more harm than good during 

 such a *state of suspended functions; for they can not be 

 taken up in any quantities and conveyed into the circulation, 

 but linger in the stomach and intestinal canal, which they 

 irritate, and tbns, instead of allaying fever, actually excite it. 

 The benefit of bleeding is that it prepares tne way for alter- 

 atives to act promptly and energetically. 



Bleed copiously two or three times, as directed for hide- 

 bound, the blood being permitted to flow until it changes 

 from a dark, almost black, color to a bright, healthful red, 

 or until the pulse falters. This course will relax the system, 

 and relieve the vessels of their impure, turgid blood. 



The "jimson" seed, which is perhaps the most powerful- 

 alterative in the world, meets this case exactly. It enters 

 freely and rapidly into the blood, relaxes the capillaries, opens 

 the pores, and sends out the retarded secretions to soften the 

 skin once more. Give a table-spoonful of the seed, each 

 morning, in some meal or bran, until the patient gets better. 

 Let the horse have an abundance of sulphur and resin at the 

 same time, the ordinary dose every other day, in some meal 



