DISEASES OF THE SKIN AND EABS. 239 



^N'ot SO with the blood wart, however small its first ap- 

 pearance. Attack this at once, for now it may be easily 

 conquered, while continued neglect ma}^ enable it to attain 

 such strength and vigor as to defy all treatment. 



Some danger attends cutting off a large w^art, from* the 

 obstinate hemorrhage which may ensue. Only the searing 

 will close the vein in such a case, and this may give rise to 

 a dreadful inflammation. 



SORE NOSE. 



The noses of many horses are sometimes discovered to be 

 sore, and incrusted with scabs, when no other disease is ap- 

 parent. This condition may be the result of constitutional 

 debility; but it is, in the Southern States, more frequently 

 produced by a certain poisonous weed that grows in those 

 latitudes, and which, from its peculiar effects upon "the horse, 

 is there known as "sneeze-weed." It is a plant, growing 

 about one and a half feet high, and stands very thickly 

 upon the ground, which, at some seasons, is covered with 

 the old petals of its yellow blossoms and the leaves which 

 fall from its stalks. The tine particles of these the horse 

 snuffs up into his nose, when grazing near the weed, and 

 they create sores upon the outside of the nostril. Especially 

 is this the case when the animal feeds in such places early 

 in the morning, before the dew is gone. At that time, the 

 green weed itself will poison the nose. Young colts are the 

 most easily affected by these agencies, and very often have 

 noses perfectly covered with scabs. At one time, the opin- 

 ion was almost universal at the South that " sneeze-weed " 

 would kill, not only horses, but even cattle; but, although 

 extremely poisonous, there is no sufficient ground for believ- 

 ing it to be so deadly as this. 



The nose is frequently j)oisoned by other weeds and vines, 

 many of which, though perfectly harmless when taken into 

 the stomach, will seriously irritate and fester the skin. The 

 "jimson weed" will poison the nose of cattle and sheep as 

 well as of horses ; and yet all of them have been known to 



