DISEASES OF THE SKIN. 465 
bing, the true nature of the eruption may be completely masked. In 
well-fed horses, kept in close stables with little work, eczema of the 
limbs may last for months and years. It is a very troublesome affec- 
tion in draft stallions. 
Treatment.—This disease is so often the result of indigestion that a. 
laxative of 1 pound Glauber’s salt in 3 or 4 quarts water or 1} pints 
olive oil is often demanded to clear away irritants from the alimen- 
tary canal. Following this, in recent and acute cases, give 2 drams 
of acetate or bicarbonate of potash twice a day in the drinking water. 
If the bowels still become costive, give daily 1 ounce sulphate of soda 
and 20 grains of powdered nux vomica. In debilitated horses com- 
bine the nux vomica with one-half ounce powdered gentian root. A+ 
a wash for the skin use 1 dram bicarbonate of soda and 1 dram car- 
bolic acid in a quart of water, after having cleansed the surface with 
tepid water. Employ the same precautions as regards feeding, 
stabling, and care of harness as in simple congestion of the skin. 
In the more inveterate forms of eczema more active treatment is 
required. Soak the scabs in fresh sweet oil, and in a few hours 
remove these with tepid water and Castile soap; then apply an oint- 
ment of sulphur or iodid of sulphur day by day. If this seems to 
be losing its effect after a week, change for mercurial ointment or a 
solution of sulphid of potassium, or of hyposulphite of soda, 8 drams 
to the quart of water. In these cases the animal may take a course 
of sulphur (1 ounce daily), bisulphite of soda (one-half ounce daily), 
or of arsenic (5 grains daily) mixed with 1 dram bicarbonate of 
soda. 
; INFLAMMATION WITH PUSTULES. 
In this affection the individual elevations on the inflamed skin 
show in the center a small sac of white, creamy pus, in place of the 
clear liquid of a blister. They vary in size from a millet seed to a 
hazelnut. The pustules of glanders (farcy buds) are to be distin- 
guished by the watery contents and the cordlike swelling, extending 
from the pustules along the line of the veins; and those of boils by the 
inflammation and sloughing out of a core of the true skin. The hair 
on the pustule stands erect, and is often shed with the scab which 
results. When itching is severe the parts become excoriated by 
rubbing, and, as in the other forms of skin disease, the character of 
the eruption may become indistinct. Old horses suffer mainly at the 
root of the mane and tail and about the 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 unwhole- 
some feed and indigestion, from a sudden change of feed—above all, 
from dry to green. In foals it may result from overheating of the 
36444°—16——380 
