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-oats. In some parts of the country, where the water contains a large amount 

 of the salts of calcium or magnesium, cracked heels are more common than 

 elsewhere. In slight cases of cracked heels, all that is necessary is the 

 application of some simple soothing ointment once or twice daily. Ointment 

 of boracic acid, is as good as any we are acquainted with. Take of bees' 

 wax one part, paraffin two parts, almond oil two parts ; melt and add in 

 fine powder boracic acid (warmed) one part ; mix and stir. Zinc ointment 

 is also a fairly good application ; so also is an ointment of camphor one part, 

 almond oil four parts, wax three parts. 



When more astringent applications are required, ointments containing 

 acetate of lead are valuable, such as almond oil six parts, and solution of 

 subacetate of lead one part. Another valuable application, recommended in 

 our "Veterinary Pharmacology, and Therapeutics," is the compound 

 ointment of petroleum, made of white precipitate of mercury one drachm, 

 liquor carbonis detergens one drachm, vaseline one ounce. Another good 

 application may be made of citrine ointment four parts, almond oil two parts, 

 paraffin two parts, and camphor one part. 



Any of these ointments will relieve the irritable condition of the skin. 

 They should be applied not only after the day's work is over, but also before 

 the horse starts his day's work in the morning. It is rarely necessary to 

 administer any medicine internally ; but, where the inflammation is very 

 pronounced, it is well to give four or five drachms of aloes, and rest the 

 animal for three days, in the meantime feeding him on mashes and warm 

 water. Half an ounce of bicarbonate of potassium may also be given in the 

 drinking water twice daily for several days. Locally it is best not to apply 

 astringent ointments, so long as the part remains very red and inflamed, but 

 to poultice it with bran for two or three days. In inveterate cases, when the 

 part continues to discharge, we may paint it with a solution of nitrate of 

 sih^er (fifteen grains to the ounce of water), once daily for two or three days. 



GREASE AND GRAPES. 



We have now to consider the symptoms and treatment of grease, and of its 

 more aggravated condition termed grapes. Not much is known of the actual 

 pathology of grease, but of its causes and of the best means of curing it our 

 knowledge is much more definite. Grease is an inflammatory condition of 

 the skin of the limbs, characterised by heat, pain, and sometimes by 

 lameness, and manifested by a sore or ulcerated condition, not uncommonly 

 attended by manifestations of constitutional febrile disturbance. From the 

 skin there oozes a thick, serous, oily discharge, which, if not frequently 

 removed, becomes fetid. In marked cases, little red nodules in clusters grow 

 on the affected limb, and these are termed grapes. This latter condition is 

 not uncommon among heavy cart horses, which have been kept in dirty 

 stables, and are not well attended to. 



As grease is a condition which only too often becomes chronic, leading 

 to permanent inflammatory thickening of the limb, one cannot aftbrd to 



