60 TBE DISEASES OF HOUSES, 



examination and attention to the above symptoms whether his horse has 

 mange, the only disease likely to be mistaken for it being surfeit ; 

 but in that there is not the intense itching, nor the watery discharge, but 

 merely a quantity of small bumps or heat spots, which generally appear 

 very suddenly. 



The treatment of mange must depend on the condition of the horse ; if 

 gross and fat he should have a physic ball once a week, and the quantity 

 of corn reduced, giving green food if obtainable, or carrots; he should 

 also have alteratives, the powders prescribed for mallenders (p. 58) will 

 answer well, but the sulphate of iron must be left out ; but in the case of 

 poor, ill-conditioned animals, generous feeding must be adopted and tonics 

 added to the alteratives — that is, the sulphate of iron must be retained in 

 the powders, and an equal quantity of powdered gentian added. The 

 local applications recommended for mange are innumerable, most of them 

 exceedingly nasty, and nearly all contain very dangerous poisons, such as 

 arsenic, corrosive sublimate, hellebore, strong mercurial ointment, &c, 

 mixed up with some stinking fish oil. This is altogether unnecessary, as 

 more efficient means of cure, and much more cleanly can be had. Any of 

 the following may be used without danger :— 



Dressings for Mange. — Take pure crystallised carbolic acid Joz., glycerine 

 8oz., laudanum 2oz., water 16oz.; mix and apply with a rag three or four 

 times a day. Or take flowers of sulphur 8oz., powdered nitrate of potash 

 loz., lard lib., spirit of turpentine ^oz. ; thoroughly mix and rub into 

 the parts affected twice a day ; but a still cleaner, and I can, from personal 

 experience of it, say a most effectual cure, is the cure for mange, made by 

 Spratt's Patent Dog Biscuit Manufacturers, and it is entirely free from 

 poison. 



Whatever dressing is selected, its application should be preceded by a 

 thorough cleansing of the parts, either by brushing or washing ; but in 

 any but very cold weather I prefer the latter, adding 2oz. of carbonate of 

 potash to a bucket of water, and using soft soap. All the stall posts, 

 manger, and every place the horse can have rubbed against must be 

 thoroughly cleansed with soap and boiling water, and brushed over with 

 the mange lotion, so as to thoroughly eradicate the disease from the stable ; 

 but with good well-ventilated stables, and proper attention to feeding and 

 grooming, this foul disease should never appear. 



As mange is very unmanageable and difficult to eradicate, and seems 

 sometimes to yield to one remedy, sometimes to another, perhaps it may 

 be as well for me to add a few more recipes for the cure of it, all of which 

 have their advocates, so that those who unfortunately have an animal to 

 treat for it may have variety to choose from. I, however, would not look 

 further for a cure than in those already given, adding only in cases that 

 seemed to resist the persistent use of them a very strong tincture of 

 stavesacre seeds, which should be made according to the following 

 formula : 



Tincture of Stavesacre. — Take of the seeds of stavesacre (Delphinium 



