GEEASE.— CHAPPED HEELS. 195 



young horses with highly stimulating diet, with iusufficiency of 

 labour or exercise, are with such animals the most common 

 sources of the affection. 



Uncleanliness, from allowing the animal to stand for days 

 in succession in his own litter ; gross feeding ; long exposure 

 of the limbs to wet during the winter ; or from working the 

 animal in wet and muddy localities, are amongst the common 

 causes of the malady in question. 



In numerous instances Grease will arise from derangement 

 of the stomach. I have elsewhere treated upon the sympathy 

 which exists between the skin and the mucous membrane.* 

 Now, in the production of Grease, we sometimes behold a 

 striking example of this sympathy. The patient may be a 

 delicate feeder, or a ravenous one; in either case, however, 

 more food is perhaps taken than the stomach can properly 

 digest, when derangement of a direct nature supervenes to the 

 organ ; and extends from a sympathetic or secondary nature to 

 the limbs. 



Teeatment. — The treatment of Grease will require to be 

 determined by the nature of its cause. If the malady arises 

 from derangement of the stomach, it is of little or no use to 

 resort to mere outward applications. So long as the gastric 

 derangement continues, so long wiU the Grease remain. On 

 the other hand, if the disease be of a simple nature, and origi- 

 nates from causes which have acted directly upon the tissues 

 involved (as the action of frost for example upon a damp skin), 

 rest of the patient, together vrith warmth and mild outward 

 applications, may prove all that are necessary. 



There are several indications by which an observer may 

 easily determine if derangement of the stomach be a continuous 

 See Page 175. 



