441 



one-half ounce doses of gentian. Inveterate cases may often be bene- 

 fited by a course of svilpliur, bisulijliite of soda, or arsenic. In all the 

 greatest care must be taken with regard to food, feeding, watering, 

 cleanliness, and work. In wet and cold seasons i^redisposed animals 

 should, as far as possible, be protected from Avet, mud, snow, and 

 melted snow, above all from that Avhich has been melted by salt. 



BOILS — FUKUNCLES. 



These may appear on any part of the skin, but are especially com- 

 mon on the lower x^arts of the limbs, and on the shoulders and back 

 where the skin is irritated by accumulated secretion and chafing with 

 the harness. In other cases the cause is constitutional, or attended 

 by unwholesome diet and overwork with loss of general health and 

 condition. They also follow on weakening diseases, notably strangles, 

 in which irritants are retained in the system from overproduction of 

 effete matters during fever, and imperfect elimination. There is also 

 the presence of a pyogenic bacterium, by which the disease may be 

 maintained and proj)agated. 



While boils are pus i)roducing, they differ from simple x^ustule in 

 affecting the deepest layers of the true skin, and even the superficial 

 layers of the connective tissues beneath, and in the death and slough- 

 ing out of the central x)art of the inflamed mass (core). The depth 

 of the hard, indurated, painful swelling, and the formation of this 

 central mass or core, which is bathed in x)us and slowly sei)arated 

 from surrounding parts, serve to distinguish the boil alike from the 

 I)ustule, from the farcy bud, and from a superficial abscess. 



To freed very painful boils a free incision with a lancet in two 

 directions, followed by a dressing with one-half an ounce carbolic 

 acid in a pint of water, bound on with cotton avooI or lint, may cut 

 them short. The more common course is to aj^ply a warm poultice of 

 linseed meal or wheat bran, and renew daily until the center of the 

 boil softens, when it should be lanced and the core pressed out. 



If the boil is smeared with a blistering ointment of Slianish flies 

 and a poultice put over it, the formation of matter and separation 

 of the core is often hastened. A mixture of sugar and soai) laid on 

 the boil is equally good. Cleanliness of the skin and the avoidance 

 of all causes of irritation are imx)ortant items, and a teaspoonful of 

 bicarbonate of soda once or twice a day will sometimes assist in ward- 

 ing off a new crop. 



NETTLERASH— SURFEIT — URTICARIA. 



This is an eruption in the form of cutaneous nodules, in size from a 

 hazel nut to a hickory nut, transient, with little disposition to the for- 

 mation of either blister or j^ustule, and usuall}' connected with shed- 

 ding of the coat, sudden changes of weather, and unwholesomeness or 



