SK/iV DISEASES. 267 



parts which are itchy or sore, but that have not sufTered from 

 rubbing, the nature of the eruption will be seen, especially it" a 

 slightly magnifying glass be used. The affection usually gives 

 way readily under the use of weak alkaline washes (carbonate 

 of soda I dr., water i pint), or soap-suds, a restricted laxative 

 diet and gentle laxatives. 



INFLAMMATION WITH VESICLES. 



In this form of skin disease papules are crowned with little 

 blisters, so small and pointed as to require a magnifying glass 

 to make them out distinctly (eczema), or as large as a small 

 pea and rounded (herpes, bullae). These forms are common in 

 horses and dogs, and to a less extent in ruminants, especially 

 in connexion with disorders of digestion. Highly stimulating 

 food, clipping, and hot weather are particularly favourable to 

 their development. Boiled food, diseased potatoes, green food, 

 or any change of diet may cause them. One form of this affec- 

 tion is induced by a too extensive use of mercury to the skin. 

 Cattle suffer from eating the refifte of distilleries and gardens, 

 garbage from kitchens, etc. ; sheep are attacked after exposure 

 to cold rains. Old horses suffer from an inveterate form in 

 connexion with bad fo6d and want of grooming and wholesome 

 stabling. In dogs, too, it becomes inveterate and chronic, the 

 whole skin being denuded of hair and of a bright scarlet, with 

 the characteristic eruption mixed with cracks, sores, and scabs 

 (red mange). In the milder forms, dogs suffer mainly inside 

 the thighs or on the scrotum ; horses suffer under the harness 

 and especially at the root of the mane and under the saddle, 

 but the eruption may spread over the whole body; cattle suffer 

 on the limbs, especially the hind, but not exclusively so. 



The other eruptions are often mingled with the vesicles, the 

 liairs become bristly, and as the skin is broken by rubbing, a 

 bloody or straw-coloured exudation concretes in scabs and mats 

 the hair together, while elsewhere extensive raw sores appear. 



