520 MANGE. 



MANGE. 



This is sufficiently known as an eruptive affection of the 

 skin, very highly contagious, and accompanied with almost 

 incessant itching. It is found in all our domestic quadru- 

 peds. In the various animals it presents some distinctive 

 marks. Our principal difficulty was, to account for the readi- 

 ness with which mange was taken or propagated. This 

 difficulty is now surmounted, since Mr. Erasmus Wilson 

 has shown the veterinary profession the disease is caused by 

 the presence of minute insects of the spider tribe, called 

 acari. Mange often commences at the roots of the hair of 

 the mane and tail ; where a scurfy state of the skin appears, 

 and which it gives the horse pleasure to have examined. 

 A few days will extend this beyond the simple line of the 

 mane and tail : spots denuded of hair will appear, and 

 will eventually make their way over the body to the 

 face. A close examination will detect under the branny 

 scurf small vesicular eminences, watery above and red be- 

 neath ; distinct in the moderate state, but running into 

 continuous scabby patches in inveterate mange. Mr. Per- 

 civall has, with his characteristic accuracy, remarked on the 

 stubborn adherence of some few hairs in the very middle of 

 the otherwise bare mangy patches. If the observer is in- 

 clined to examine these individual hairs, he will find that it 

 requires a very powerfiil pull with a pair of tweezers to 

 dislodge one of them from its cell within the cutis ; and 

 when done, he will find not only that the hair itself is 

 enlarged, but that its bulb is singularly tumid and vascular. 

 As the disease advances, it thickens and puckers the skin, 

 particularly that of the neck, withers, and loins ; and it is 

 throughout marked by its incessant and intolerable irrita- 

 tion, which forces the horse often to rub himself raw. 



The cure of mange. — The disease is more often to be con- 

 sidered as a local affection ; but there are cases also where 

 it may have a constitutional connexion ; as when brought on 

 by emaciation, close confinement, and habitual filth. In 

 cases either generated or caught, where emaciation is pre- 

 sent, feed liberally with malt mashes and green food of the 

 most nutritive kind. If in winter, allow carrots, beet, 

 potatoes, &c. ; and if these are not to be had, spear the 

 corn, and give with bran : for, although not generally taken 



