DISEASES AND INJURIES OF THE LEGS. 



221 



affected, the skin becomes thickened, somewhat hardened and more dif- 

 ficult to move on the subcutaneous tissue; it is dry and coriaceous, oc- 

 casionally scaly, and falls into folds and fissures which in cases of long 

 standing may chap and suppurate. This thickening of cutaneous and 

 subcutaneous parts, after a time, causes much alteration of the limb 

 and deformity, with impaired power of motion. (Fig. 113.) 



Fig. 113. 

 Elephantiasis in the Horse. 



Treatment. — This may be palliative; but seldom, when once estab- 

 lished, is the condition reversed. Of all which have been recommended 

 and tried, a judicious combination of drastic cathartics and diuretic 

 medicine with a rather liberal use of tonics, vegetable and mineral, 

 together witli the employment of daily inunctions with a compound 

 of mercurial and iodine ointment, may be productive of good. The 

 more heroic treatment, by the local use of cantharides blisters, issues, 

 or the actual cautery, has also been tried, but generally with unfor- 

 tunate results. Once the disease is established, it may be classed among 

 the incurables. 



