222 
ON POULTRY LOUSINESS IN THE HORSE. 
as soon as it has reached a certain point, causes the spayed cow 
to become dry. 5thly, That the risk of spaying exceeds that of 
calving. 6thly, That it is more advantageous to farmers in 
several parts of the country to breed calves. 7thly, That opulent 
farmers and graziers in large towns had better give up 
thoughts of spaying. 
Recueil de Mid. Vet., May 1850. 
all 
ON THE CUTANEOUS DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 
By Mons. H. Bouley. 
AMONGST these there is one, interesting alike as regards 
its cause, its mode of manifestation, and its treatment, which 
has been confounded with general itch or mange ; to which, 
indeed, it bears some resemblance, in consisting, as it does, of 
the existence of a parasitic animal, and which must be destroyed 
ere the disease will disappear. To this variety of phthyriasis 
M. Bouley has given the name of the 
Poultry Lousiness (phthyriasis des oiseaux), 
on account of the unique cause giving origin to it, as well as 
by way of distinguishing it from the pedicular disease peculiar 
to horses. 
Its commencement is instantaneous. All at once the horse 
is seized with a violent continued general itching. So sudden 
and irresistible is the desire the animal possesses to scratch 
himself, that he is not easy for a single moment. He rubs his 
skin against every resisting body near him, stamps the ground 
continually, strikes his belly, bites every place he can reach 
with his mouth ; manifesting, by his continual movements, the 
burning itching by which he is devoured. At night his tor- 
ments increase ; so much so, that should the animal be aban- 
doned to himself, he rubs and bites himself to that degree, that 
he tears his skin, and carries portions away in his mouth, de- 
nuding himself extensively of his scarf skin ; nor does he relax 
until smarting pains succeed the insupportable torments of the 
itching. 
At the time these symptoms of prurience are making their ap- 
pearance, the skin is the seat of an eruption of very small vesi- 
cles ; some solitary — others, in greater number, congregate, oc- 
cupying more or less extent of surface. These vesicles contain, at 
the period of their maturity, scarcely serosity enough to raise the 
epidermis, which becomes detached, dragging the hairs with it 
that run across, leaving behind it a small bare surface, per- 
fectly circular, of the diameter of a lentil, or the smallest silver 
