THE SKIN 



and improve the appearance of the legs. Changes in diet have not seemed 

 to make any improvement in these cases, and the local treatment is all we 

 can pursue. 



ECZEMA 



I have sometimes thought there was no difference between eczema 

 and white comb, and yet we seldom see the two diseases on the same fowl. 

 Eczema is a disease manifesting itself in the skin, yet due to a constitutional 

 cause. 



It is caused by the over-feeding of a highly nitrogenous ration, by lack 

 of excretion, or from closely inbred birds of a rheumatic tendency. The 

 disease is never passed by contact from bird to bird. It Js.not contagious. 



While eczema may appear on any part of the skin, , the usual seat of 

 the disease is the wattles. I am not sure but it appears at the same time 

 on other parts of the bird, but being covered by feathers it does not at- 

 tract our attention. On the wattles it attracts our notice by the appear- 

 ing of fine white points. These are shghtly raised and seem to have just 

 the thin skin over them. They continue to increase in size, new points 

 appearing, the contents becoming thinner and slightly lighter in color. 

 When several "points" have united, the skin bmsts, the fluid runs out and 

 dries on the surface, forming a scurfy crust. In severe cases the discharge 

 has been noticed to irritate the skin of the shanks and toes where it falls on 

 them. Fowls with eczema present a tired appearance and a marked loss 

 of appetite. 



Treatment 



These cases need an improved diet. The mash should contain a good 

 proportion of cut clover, green vegetables should be fed UberaUy, and there 

 should be very little meat fed in any form for weeks. Green cut bone, 

 free from meat, will be helpful in building up the fowl. 



One grain pill citrate iron and quinine every morning and one grain 

 calomel at night for one week will help clear up the constitutional con- 

 dition, and increase the health of the bird. 



Apply to the diseased wattles several times during the week the same 

 ointment as recommended for white comb. 



Dr. J. W. Hill recojnmends as a treatment: "Ten to twenty grains 

 of sulphate of magnesia, and a grain of calomel, followed by three grains 

 of carbonate of iron twice a day in a teaspoonful of water. 



"Locally — The application of benzoated oxide of zinc ointment twice 

 or thrice a day, or, in severe cases, when the scabs are hard and firmly at- 

 tached, they may be removed, after first softening with hottish barley water, 

 and the parts dressed with the following preparations: Oxide of zinc and 

 olive oil, 'of each half ounce; tincture of arnica, two drachms; spirits of cam- 

 phor, one drachm; carbolic acid, pure, ten minims; rose water, seven ounces. 

 To be applied with a feather or brush three or four times a day." 



87 



