438 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 



conduces to the eruption. Lastly, any sudden change of. food may 

 induce it. 



The blisters may in part go on to suppuration so that vesicles and 

 pustules often appear on the same patch, and when raw from rubbing 

 the true nature of the eruption may be completely masked. In high- 

 fed horses, kept in close stables with little work, eczema of the limbs 

 may last for months and years. It is a very troublesome affection in 

 draft stallions. 



Treatment. — This disease is so often the result of indigestion that a 

 laxative of 1 pound Glauber's salts, in 3 or 4 quarts water or \\ 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 powdered nux vomica. In debilitated horses combine 

 the nux vomica with one-half ounce powdered gentian root. As a 

 wash for the skin use 1 dram bicarbonate of soda and 1 dram carbolic 

 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 iodide of sulphur day by day. If this seems to 

 be losing its effect after a week, change for mercurial ointment or a 

 solution of sulphide of potassium, or of hyposulphite of soda, 3 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 food and indigestion, from a sudden change of food — above all, 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



