PITYRIASIS VERSICOLOR. 315 
Some authorities have found more cases of the disease under consideration 
among short-haired than long-haired dogs. While in the latter its develop- 
ment would be the easiest, among the former transmission by contact should 
occur the most readily, a thick coat being decidedly obstructive. 
No breed or age is exempt from this disease, but much the largest proportion 
of its victims are puppies; and although it is sometimes found as early as the 
second month, only rarely does it appear before the fourth month, while very 
generally, as previously intimated, it attacks between the fourth and sixth month. 
A certain means of destroying the parasite of pityriasis versicolor is the 
tincture of iodine. With this every spot should be carefully painted ; so, too, 
the unaffected skin for at least half an inch beyond its margin; and on each 
application, that the remedy may act in full strength, a second layer of the 
paint should be put on after the first has dried. It should be used daily for 
about one week; then the entire coat of the patient be washed with benzin. 
The iodine having been withheld for a week thereafter, if the edges of the 
spots or patches then appear paler and thinner, it may be assumed that a cure 
is taking place, and all that is required is to keep the surface softened with 
some fatty preparation, as the simple ointment of sulphur and lard, cocoanut- 
oil, cocoa-butter, vaselin, or the like. But if the conditions seem less favorable, 
the iodine treatment should be applied for another week. 
It is scarcely possible for the parasite to resist the tincture of iodine, but in 
event that remedy did not seem to act well, balsam Peru or tar might be tried ; 
and in very rebellious cases Canada balsam and carbolic acid, in equal parts, 
should be applied, as advised in eczema. 
With some authorities the most popular remedy is a lotion made of sulphur 
and lime ; one-half a pound of the former and one-quarter of a pound of slaked 
lime being right for two quarts of water. All this is boiled in an earthen- 
ware vessel until it has been reduced one-half, then set aside to cool and 
settle; after which the clear fluid portion is poured off into a bottle, that is to 
be kept well corked. It is applied daily with a stiff brush, not only to the 
patches of eruption, but to ‘unaffected surfaces within, certainly, half an inch 
of them, that none of the disease may escape untouched. The treatment, after 
the disease has been killed should be the same as that advised to follow the 
use of the tincture of iodine. 
Medicines given internally cannot have any effect upon the disease, but of 
course if the general health is not good, every effort should be made to im- 
prove it. 
Although the danger of the disease being communicated by the dog to his 
master is very slight, the possibility of transmission should be kept in mind. 
A simple form of pityriasis which is often encountered in dogs is analogous 
to the affection, quite common in man, termed dandruff. In this, myriads of 
small white scales form, and generally they are most abundant about the head. 
