390 THl HORSE. 



the side of the neck, just at the edires of the mane, and on the 

 ijisides cf the quarters near the root of the tail. From these 

 parts the eruption extends along the back and down the sides, 

 seldom involving the extremities excepting in very confirmed 

 cases. After a tim^ the hair almost entirely falls ofi", leaving the 

 skin at first bare avjd smooth, with a few small red pimples scat- 

 tered over it, each, of which contains an acarus, and these are con- 

 nected by furrows, along which the acari have worked their way 

 to their present habitation. In process of time the pimples 

 increase in number and size, and from them a matter exudes 

 which hardens into a scab, beneath which, on examination, 

 several acari may readily be seen, moving their legs like mites in 

 a cheese, to which they are closely allied. At first the mangy 

 horse may keep his health, but after a time the constant irritation 

 makes him feverish ; he loses flesh, and becomes a most miserable 

 object; but such cases of neglect are happily rare in the present 

 day. The treatment must be addressed to the destruction of the 

 life of the acarus, which, as in the human subject, is rapidly 

 destroyed by sulphur, turpentine, arsenic, hellebore, and corrosive 

 sublimate. Some of these drugs are, however, objectionable, 

 from being poisonous to the horse, as well as to the parasite which 

 preys upon him, and they are, therefore, not to be employed 

 without great and urgent necessity, in consequence of the failure 

 of milder remedies.* The following recipes may be relied on as 

 perfectly efficacious, the former being sufficient in mild cases, and 

 the latter being stron,^ enough in any. 



1. Take of Common Sulphur 6 oz. 



Sperm or Train Oil .... 1 pint. 

 Spirit of Turpentine .... 3 oz. 

 Mix and rub well into the skin with a flannel, or in preference with a 

 painter's brush. 



2. Take of Compound Sulphur Ointment . . 8 oz. 



Train or Sperm Oil 1 pint. 



Spirit of Turpentine 3 oz. 



Mix and use as above. 



One or other of the above dressings should be well rubbed in 

 every third day for at least three or four weeks in bad cases, and 

 two in trifling ones, when the inflammation resulting from the 



* Take a floor cloth, damp the face of it with soap and water, dip it in 

 fine sea sand and give the mangy parts a good scrubbing to expose the 

 acari, wash off dry, and apply hepar sulph. one ounce, cold water tAvo pints. 

 Sulphurous acid gas is a certain remedy for this and other skin diseases 

 and is used as follows : — Place one ounce of roll sulphur on hot coals in a 

 chafer and place it where the horse is. Close all the doors and windows but 

 the one the animal is to stand opposite to. Continue the fumigation for an 

 .lour or so. — Editor. 



