MANGE. 141 



MANGE. 



This cutaneous affection, which was formerly attributed to want of 

 cleanliness, or to some peculiar state of the blood, is nov generally 

 admitted to arise from the presence of certain minute insects termed 

 acari. It is identical with the scab in sheep, and the itch in the human 

 being, which also were supposed to arise from corruption of the 

 blocd, or acrid humor subsisting in it, or from filthiness, but which 

 arise from this scabious insect. As far back as the twelfth century 

 these acari scabiei were described by an Arabian physician ; sub- 

 sequently they were noticed and described by several German and 

 Italian writers, and in 1812 and 1814 Herr Walz, a German veteri- 

 narian, and M. Gohier, an eminent French veterinary surgeon, found 

 these insects in, and gave drawings of, and described those peculiar 

 to, almost all our domesticated animals. 



There is a very interesting translation from a pamphlet by Dr. 

 Hertwig, given in the Veterinarian for 1838, in which a detailed 

 account of the habits and history of these insects will be found. 



The hog does not appear to suffer so much from mange or 

 scab as the horse, sheep, and dog ; in swine, the pustules are usually 

 chiefly developed under the arm-pits, and on the interior of the 

 thighs. They at first consist simply of red spots, vesicles, or 

 pimples ; but these gradually become connected together by minute 

 burrows, or furrows existing beneath the skin, and eventually unite 

 in the form of large scabs, which the animal, irritated by the itch- 

 ing, rubs into large blotchy sores. 



Where the mange is recent, a tolerably strong decoction of tobacco 

 or digitalis will often prove an efficacious wash for the diseased 

 parts, or a solution of corrosive sublimate ; but if the eruption is of 

 long standing, and has degenerated into scabs, a solution of arsenic 

 in the proportion of one ounce to a gallon of water, or, what is still 

 better, sulphur and mercurial ointment in the proportion of an 

 ounce of the former to a drachm of the latter, carefully and 

 thoroughly rubbed into the skin, must be resorted to. A decoction 

 of soot has also been recently discovered by an eminent French 

 physician to be exceedingly efficacious in cases of cutaneous disorders. 

 Two handfuls of soot are boiled during half an hour in a pint of 

 water, the fluid is then strained off, and the lotion when cold used 

 two or three times in the day. Creosote has also been used with 

 success in the treatment of cutaneous eruptions. If the animal is in 

 high condition, blood should be taken, and two or three doses of 

 cooling physic given, or sulphur mingled with the food. Strict 

 attention must be paid to cleanliness, and the animal kept apart from 

 the rest of the herd. Mange is both hereditary and infectious. 

 There are numerous instances of its having been communicated from 



