GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTIOX 22 1 



comparatively rare. Thin-skinned animals are more susceptible 

 than thick-skinned ones. Some discrepancy of opinion exists 

 as to the kind of horses most likely to take the disea.se (assum- 

 ing that bursattee and leeches are similar). Xeal states that 

 only horses of good blood leech, and the Cuban and Texan 

 ponies are as a rule exempt. Anderson states that it is the 

 coarsely bred and hard-worked horses that are the most sus- 

 ceptible. The well-bred ones, having the advantage of good 

 hygienic surroundings, rarely contract it. 



§ 172. Geographical distribution. Bursattee has been 

 reported from Burmah«and Hindoostan. It is thought that the 

 prevalence of the di.sease is associated with the principal river 

 systems of India. In the hilly, rocky and consequently drier 

 districts there is a very noticeable diminution or absence of it. 



Outside of India there seems to have been no cases of this 

 malady reported except in the United States, unless upon fur- 

 ther investigation certain mycotic diseases, which have been 

 described in Europe, should prove to be identical with it. 



Lyford (1866) reported it in Minnesota, Anderson (1889) 

 in Kansas and Alabama, and Neal (1887) and Bitting (1894) 

 in Florida. The latter writer states, that it is "now known 

 all over the United States except in that region lying east of 

 Alleg-liany mountains and north of the Potomac river. " A few 

 cases have been presented for treatment in the clinic of the 

 New York State A'eterinar}- College. 



§ 173. Etiology. Jackson suggested, in 1S42, that the 

 di.sease might be related to a fungus or to a vegetable parasite. 

 Collins, in 1874, expressed a similar belief. F. Smith, in 1879 

 and 1884, seems to have been the first to have worked along 

 this line. He was able to find fungi in every fresh specimen 

 of the sores that he examined. Steel, in 1881, also found 

 fungal elements in these sores. T. Smith, in 1S93, examined 

 some alcoholic material and gave expression to the belief that 

 the disease was caused by a fungus. Fish, in 1896, found a 

 fungus embedded in the diseased tissue. He did not name it 

 neither did he obtain it in pure culture, but his illustrations 

 are very clear in showing the existence of a fungus. Fish 

 gives in detail the methods he employed. It is to his work 



