CHAPTER XIX. 



THE DISEASES OF THE SKIN. 



Graziers know that the beast whose skin is not soft, and mellow, 

 and elastic, can never carry any profitable quaniity of flesh and fat ; 

 therefore they judge of the value of the animal even more by the 

 handling than they do by the conformation of parts. 



The skin is filled with innumerable little glands, which pour out an 

 oily fluid, that softens and supplies it, so that we can easily take it 

 between the finger and thumb, and raise it from the parts beneath ; 

 and while we are doing this, we are sensible of its peculiar mellow- 

 ness and elasticity. At another time, or in another animal, the skin 

 seems to cling to the muscles beneath, and feels harsh and rough 

 ^hen we handle it ; but the skin is not altered or diseased ; it is this 

 secretion of oily fluid that is suspended. We attach the idea of 

 health to the mellow skin, and of disease to the harsh and immova- 

 ble one, because the experience of ourselves and of everybody else 

 has confirmed this connection, and the principle is, that when one 

 secretion is properly discharged the others will generally be so, and 

 when one is interrupted the harmony of the system is too much 

 disturbed for the animal to thrive or to be in viofor. 



Then, as a symptom of a diseased state of the constitution gene- 

 rally, the attention is first directed to 



HIDE-BOUND.^ 



The term is very expressive — the hide seems to be bound, or to 

 cling to the muscles and bones. It does not actually do so, but it 

 has lost its softness, and we can no longer raise it, or move it about. 

 The secretion of the oily fluid which supplies the skin is disturbed ; 

 this argues disturbance elsewhere, and the feeling of the skin usually 

 indicates the degree of that disturbance. 



With hide-bound is connected a rough and staring coat. The sur- 

 face of the skin is hard and dry ; the minute scales with which it is 

 covered no longer yield to the hair, but separating themselves in 

 every direction, they turn it in various ways, and so give to it that 

 irregular and ragged appearance which is one of the characteristics 

 of want of condition. 



