SUEFEIT. — PEUEIGO. 199 



SURFEIT. 



The term Surfeit is usually applied to designate nearly 

 every affection of tlie skin to which the horse is subject. If 

 the animal merely rubs himself against a post he is said to be 

 affected with " a mild surfeit ;" if violently, a bad one ; in 

 fact, both with veterinary surgeons and with horsemen, the 

 term is used in a very wide sense. The word is derived from 

 the French verb, surfaire — to over do; and if the affection 

 be designated with reference to its causes, or when it exists 

 from an effect of over-feeding from too rich a diet, it is a term 

 in every way appropriate. 



"Horses," says Mr. Percival, "standing in stables, full of 

 condition, and but inadequately worked, are subject to heat and 

 itching of the skin, and to occasional eruptions, which the 

 groom never fails to attribute to ' heat of the blood :' a notion 

 very much in accordance with the French appelation of ebul- 

 lition for the same disorder, and one evidently derived from the 

 supposition that the blood was in some way or other the cause 

 of it. The same notion, also, will be found to prevail in our 

 present pathology of the case. "We say that the animal, from 

 high feeding and want of due work or exercise, becomes 

 PLETHOEic ; by which we mean, he either accumulates in his 

 system a superabundance of blood, or else makes it of too rich 

 a quality for ordinary purposes ; and the consequence is, that 

 by an effort of the vital powers, the redundance comes to be 

 thrown off in the form of surfeit or eruption ; and in this 

 manner other and more serious evils are averted." 



PRUEIGO. 



One of the most common forms in which Surfeit is exhibited 



is that of Prurigo, or a state of general itching of the skin. 



It is a malady common in young and in coarse-bred horses, 



and especially in round-boned, and thick-set, or punchy animals. 



