6UG EBTTHEMA. 



and wet, were turned into their st^HTe^^ut never groomed till 

 the morning ; the dirt was then dry, and was brushed off; whilst 

 his best horses (out on job in gentlemen's carriages), which came 

 in early and had their legs washed, dressed, bandaged, and other- 

 wise made comfortable, were all affected with sore le<TS. 



Mud-fever is occasionallv attended bv a considerable dejrree 

 of systemic disturbance (lience the term, I suppose), ex- 

 cessive lameness from imtation and pain, and desquamation 

 of large patches of the skin ; occasionally it is several weeks 

 before recovery takes place. Even after the febrile symptoms 

 have disappeared, an amount of unthriftiness continiies; the hair 

 and cuticle come off in patches on various parts of the body ; 

 the appetite remains capricious, and any coiidition which the 

 horse rnay have previously possessed soon disappears. Now 

 and then limited suppurations occur in the flexures of the knees,^ 

 bocks, and pasterns. 



Mr. Broad, of Bath, writes to me as follows : — " Mvd-fevcr?^-^ 

 The plan of clipping the hair with tlie clipping machine, froin 

 off the legs especially, is the predisposing cause, as it leaves 

 the skin so bare that it cannot so readily resist the effects of 

 irritants of any kind as when protected by its natural covering. 

 The hot water washing opens the pores of the skin, and a free 

 secretion sets in, which, however, becomes siiddenly checked 

 from the clothing and bandages not being put on before thoi 

 vessels of the skin become congested, and subsequently inflamed ; 

 hence the disease. The horse is often, after washing, imme- 

 diately led from the hot steaming stall or wash-house into the 

 open air to his box, the temperature of which is very low ; and 

 in other cases he is exposed to cuiTents of cold air from tho 

 opening of doors during the process. There is also another very 

 common and Vaxl practice — that of thoroughly wetting all tho 

 legs at the commencement of tlie washing, so that the water 

 may run on to the feet io moisten the dirt and render them 

 more easily cleaned. Mud-fever may occur after washing with 

 cold water, but not with proper and ordinaiy attention to 

 clothing and bandaging. I have never known it to occur when 

 the mild has been allowed to become dry and then well brushed 

 off without the application of watei"; not even when the horsep, 

 have been hunted in distiicts supposed to cause it. My opinion, 

 of tlie mud of the supposed blist<jriug districts is that it ia there 



