427 



BOILS — FURUNCLES. 



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

 mon on the lower parts 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 con- 

 dition. 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 main- 

 tained and propagated. 



While boils are pus producing, they differ from simple pustule 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 part 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 pus and slowly separated from sur- 

 rounding parts, serve to distinguish the boil alike from the pustule, 

 from the farcy bud, and from a superficial abscess. 



To treat very painful boils a free incision with a lancet in two direc- 

 tions, followed by a dressing with one-half an ounce carbolic acid in a 

 pint of water, bound on with cotton wool or lint, may cut them short. 

 The more common course is to apply 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 Spanish flies and 

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

 core is often hastened, A mixture of sugar and soap laid on the boil 

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

 causes of irritation are important items, and a teaspoonful of bicar- 

 bonate of soda once or twice a day will sometimes assist in warding 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 forma- 

 tion of either blister or pustule, and usually connected witn shevldiugof 

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

 change in the food. It is most frequent in the spring and in young and 

 vigorous animals (good feeders). The swelling embraces the entire 

 thickness of the skin and terminates by an abrupt margin in place of 

 shading off into surrounding parts. When the individual swellings run 

 together there are formed extensive patches of thickened integument. 

 These may appear on any part of the body, and may be general ; the 

 eyelids may be closed, the lips rendered immovable, or the nos- 



