GREASE. — CHAPPED HEELS. 195 



young horses with highly stimulating diet, with insufficiency of 

 labour or exercise, are with such animals the most common 

 sources of the affection. 



Uncleanliness, from allowing the animal to stand for days 

 in succession in his own litter ; gross feeding ; long exposure 

 of the limbs to wet during the winter ; or from working the 

 animal in wet and muddy localities, are amongst the common 

 causes of the malady in question. 



In numerous instances Grrease will arise from derangement 

 of the stomach. I have elsewhere treated upon the sympathy 

 which exists between the skin and the mucous membrane.* 

 Wow, in the production of Grease, we sometimes behold a 

 striking example of this sympathy. The patient may be a 

 delicate feeder, or a ravenous one ; in either case, however, 

 more food is perhaps taken than the stomach can properly 

 digest, when derangement of a direct nature supervenes to the 

 organ ; and extends from a sympathetic or secondary nature to 

 the limbs. 



TEEAT:vrE]S'T. — The treatment of Grease will require 

 to be determined by the nature of its cause. If the malady 

 arises from derangement of the stomach, it is of little or 

 no use to resort to mere outward applications. So long 

 as the gastric derangement continues, so long will the 

 Grease remain. On the other hand, if the disease be of a 

 simple nature, and originates from causes which have acted 

 directly upon the tissues involved (as the action of frost for 

 example upon a damp skin), rest of the patient, together with 

 warmth and mild outward applications, may prove all that are 

 necessary. 



There are several indications by which an observer may 

 easily determine if derangement of the stomach be a continuous 



* See Page 175. 



