468 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. = 
fed and advises the administration of pitch for a length of time 
and the avoidance of saccharine feed. Otherwise the horse may take 
a laxative followed by dram doses of carbonate of potash, and the 
affected parts may be bathed with soft, tepid water and smeared with 
an ointment made with vaseline and sulphur. In obstinate cases 
sulphur may be given daily in the feed. 
PRURITUS, OR NERVOUS IRRITATION OF THE SKIN. 
This is seen in horses fed to excess on grain and hay, kept in close 
stables, and worked irregularly. Though most common in summer, 
it is often severe in hot, close stables in winter. Pimples, vesicles, 
and abrasions may result, but as the itching is quite as severe on other 
parts of the skin, these may be the result of scratching merely. It 
is especially common and inveterate about the roots of the mane and 
tail. 
Treatment consists in a purgative (Glauber’s salt, 1 pound), re- 
stricted, laxative diet, and a wash of water slightly soured with cil 
of vitriol and rendered sweet by carbolic acid. If obstinate, give 
daily 1 ounce of sulphur and 20 grains nux vomica. If the acid 
lotion fails, 2 drams carbonate of potash and 2 grains of cyanid of 
potassium in a quart of water will sometimes benefit. If from pin- 
worms in the rectum, the itching of the tail may be remedied by an 
occasional injection of a quart cf water in which chips of quassia 
wood have been steeped for 12 hours. 
HERPES. 
This name has been applied to a disease in which there is an erup- 
tion of minute vesicles in circular groups or clusters, with little 
tendency to burst, but rather to dry up into fine scabs. If the vesicles 
break, they exude a slight, gummy discharge which concretes into a 
small, hard scab. It is apparently noncontagious and not appreci- 
ably connected with any disorder of internal organs. It sometimes 
accompanies or follows specific fevers, and is, on the whole, most fre- 
quent at the seasons of changing the coat—spring and autumn. It 
is seen on the lips and pastern, but may appear on any part of the 
body. The duration of the eruption is two weeks or even more, the 
tendency being to spontaneous recovery. The affected part is very 
irritable, causing a sensitiveness and a disposition to rub out of 
proportion to the extent of the eruption. 
Treatment—It may be treated by oxid of zinc ointment, and to 
relieve the irritation a solution of opium or belladonna in water, or 
of sugar of lead or oil of peppermint. A course of bitters (one-half 
an ounce of Peruvian bark daily for a week) may be serviceable in 
bracing the system and producing an indisposition to the eruption. 
