429 



HERPES. 



This name has been applied to a disease in which there is an eruption 

 of minute vesicles in circular groups or clusters, with little tendency 

 to burst but rather to dry up into tine scabs. If the vesicles break 

 they exude a slight, gummy discharge which concretes into a small, 

 hard scab. It is apparently noncontagious and nT)t appreciably con- 

 nected with any disorder of internal organs. It sometimes accompanies 

 or follows specific fevers, and is on the whole most frequent at the 

 seasons of changing the €oat — spring and autumn. It is seen on the 

 lips and pastern, but may appear on any part of the body. The dura- 

 tion of the eruption is two weeks or even more, the tendency being to 

 spontaneous recovery. The affected part is very irritable, causing a 

 sensitiveness and a disposition to rub, out of i)roportiou to the extent of 

 the eruption. 



It may be treatedhy oxide of zinc ointment, and to relieve the irrita- 

 tion a solution of opium or belladonna in water, or of sugar of lead or 

 oil of peppermint. A course of bitters (one-half an ounce Peruvian 

 bark daily for a week) may be serviceable in bracing the system and 

 producing an indisposition to the eruption. 



BLEEDING SKIN ERUPTIONS — DERMATORRHAGIA PARASITICA. 



In China, Hungary, Spain, and other countries horses frequently suf- 

 fer from the presence of a thread worm {Filar ia hcemorrhagicaj{lia'\U[&t: 

 F. multipapullosa, Condamine, Drouilly) iu the subcutaneous connective 

 tissue, causing effusions of blood under the scurf skin, and encrustations 

 of dried blood on the surface. The eruptions, which appear mainly on 

 the sides of the trunk, but may cover any part of the body, are rounded 

 elevations about the size of a small pea, containing blood which bursts 

 through thescurf skin and concretes like a reddish scab around the erect, 

 rigid hairs. These swellings appear in groups, which remain out for 

 several days, gradually diminishing in size ; new groups appear after 

 an interval of three or four weeks, the manifestation being confined to 

 three or four mouths of spring and disappearing in winter. A horse 

 will suffer for several years in succession, and then permanently re- 

 cover. A fatal issue is not unknown. To find the worm the hair is 

 shaved from the part where the elevations are felt, and as soon as a 

 bleeding point is showu the superficial layer is laid open with the knife, 

 when the parasite will be seen drawing itself back into the parts be- 

 neath. The worm is about 2 inches long and like a stout thread, thicker 

 towards the head than towards the tail, and with numerous little con- 

 ical elevations (papillie) around the head. The young worms are num- 

 erous in the body of the adult female worm. 



The worm has become common in given localities, and probably enters 

 the sj'stem with food or water. Treatment is not satisfactory, but the 

 affected surface should be kept clean by sponging, and the jjressure of 



