THE SKIN 403 



cause a great loss to the farmer, as many as possible should be 

 squeezed out and destroyed. Washing the back of the cow with a 

 strong solution of salt and water before turning it out acts as a good 

 preventive. Smearing the back with turpentine and tar, or carbolic 

 dressings, has a similar effect, as has also the old-fashioned black oil, 

 which is prepared by mixing sulphuric acid, turpentine, and linseed 

 oil in certain proportions {par. 1060, No IV.). The best preventive 

 I have found, and which has been used and recommended by me for 

 nearly fifty years, is as follows : Flowers of sulphur, 4 ounces ; 

 spirits of tar, 1 gill ; and train (whale) oil, 1 quart, well mixed, and 

 a little applied with a brush to the back of the cattle between the 

 top of the shoulders and the loin once a week. This prescription I 

 sent to the late Miss E. A. Ormerod in 1884, which she acknow- 

 ledged in her report on the warble fly in 1894 \ and although the 

 mixture has since been recommended by numerous writers, few have 

 acknowledged the source from whence it came. The horse is rarely 

 affected, but when it is, the larvae cause larger and more diffuse 

 swellings than in the cow. They must at once be pressed out, and 

 the parts dressed with either Jeyes' fluid or Little's phenyle (1 in 30 

 solution). For further information on this subject, the interesting 

 notes and writings of the late Miss Ormerod will be found in the 

 Royal Agricultural Society's Reports of 1887-88-89, and in her 

 yearly special reports (1894 m particular), all of them being well 

 worth reading. 



683. Ringworm is due to a micro-fungus — Trichophyton tonsurans 

 — infesting the skin of domesticated animals, is very contagious, 

 and communicable to man. It is most commonly seen in winter 

 amongst young cattle folded in courts or boxes. It attacks the 

 face, head, and neck, and gives rise to round patches, devoid of 

 hair, and covered with a greyish-yellow scurf. On many occasions 

 the attendants become badly affected, having acquired it from the 

 infected animals. Treatment. — Dressing with a mixture made up of 

 1 part of creosote and 8 parts of olive oil answers well, as also do 

 preparations of iodine. For persistent cases, solutions of corrosive. 



