DISEASES OF THE SKIN. 



We shall make no attempt to arrange these diseases into any- 

 thing like the orders and distinctions which are observed by 

 dermatologists for the reason that the study of these disorders 

 takes a much more simple form among horses than it does in the 

 human subject; moreover, such forms as the veterinarian has to 

 deal with among his patients seem to yield more readil}' to treat- 

 ment than do many of the varieties observed in man; so far as our 

 experience goes, and we can, without rendering ourselves charge- 

 able with egotism, claim to have had a fairly extensive one in this 

 direction, we have found that a very large majority of cases of 

 skin diseases in the horse are due to parasitic mange; once this 

 gets foothold in a stable there is no telling when it will be got rid 

 of, unless an owner is willing to subject himself to an infinitude of 

 trouble, so infectious is this disease and so readily is it conveyed 

 from one animal to another; at the proper place, when mange 

 comes under consideration, we shall offer our schedule of instruc- 

 tions, and provided they be carried out in their strict integrity, 

 the disease may be eradicated from a stable but not without; one 

 iota of omission will render all previous efforts fruitless and as 

 though they had never been conducted. 



In the first place, we shall refer to those forms of skin disease 

 which owe their origin and development to constitutional causes, 

 and are of a non-infectious character. 



Erythema is an inflammator)- redness of the skin of an uni- 

 form character always attended by heat, and occasionally by 

 swelling and irritation; this form of disease is due generally to 

 cold, wet, friction and undue pressure. Cold, wet and frost are 

 frequently accountable for the development of an erythema that 

 results in the long run in cracked heeus and mud FEVER; the 

 former requires no further explanation, but in the latter, which 

 usually comes out as the result of wet and frost, the skin of the 

 legs, arms, thighs and surface of abdomen are considerably swol- 



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