GENERAL, DISEASES. 1 45 



heels, and suckling foals around the mouth, on the face, inside the 

 thighs, and under the tail. 



Pustules like eczema are especially liable to result from unwholesome 

 food and indigestion, from a sudden change of food, above all from dry 

 to green food. In foals it may result from overheating of the mare and 

 allowing the first milk after she returns, or by milk rendered unwhole- 

 some by faulty feeding of the dam. If a foal is brought up by hand 

 the scouring and decompositions in the milk derange the digestion 

 and cause such eruption. Vetches and other plants affected with honey- 

 dew and buckwheat have been the cause of these eruptions on white 

 portions of the skin. Disorders of the kidneys or liver are common 

 causes of this affection. 



Treatment. Apply soothing ointments, such as benzoated oxide of 

 zinc, or vaseline with one dram oxide of zinc in each ounce. Or a wash 

 of one dram sugar of lead or two drams hj'posulphite of soda in a 

 quart of water may be freely applied. If the skin is already abraded 

 and scabby, smear thickly with vaseline for some hours, then wash 

 with soapsuds and apply the above dressings. When the excoria- 

 tions are indolent they may be painted with a solution of lunar caus- 

 tic, two grains to one ounce of distilled water. Internally counteract 

 costiveness and remove intestinal irritants by the same means as in 

 eczema, and follow this with one-half ounce doses daily of hyposul- 

 phite of soda, and one-half ounce doses of gentian. Inveterate cases 

 may often be benefited by a course of sulphur, bisulphite of soda, 

 or arsenic. In all the greatest care must be taken with regard to 

 food, feeding, watering, cleanliness, and work. In wet and cold sea- 

 sons predi-sposed animals should, as far as possible, be protected from 

 wet, mud, snow, and melted snow, above all from that which has been 

 melted by salt. 



Fever. This is a general condition of the animal body in which 

 there is an elevation of the animal body temperature, which may be only 

 a degree or two or may be 10° F. The elevation of the body tempera- 

 ture, which represents tissue change or combustion, is accompanied by 

 an acceleration of the heart's action, a quickening of the respiration, and 

 an aberration in the functional activity of the various organs of the 

 body. These organs may be stimulated to the performance of excessive 

 work, or they may be incapacitated from carrying out their allotted 

 tasks, or in the course of a fever the two conditions may both exist, the 



