322 
CHRONIC AND RECURRING DIARRHCEA. 
for some time previously been running about in a low and 
rather bleakly situated meadow, and allowed free access to a 
rick of mouldy hay ; causes quite sufficient to account for 
the functional derangement of the bowels then present. I 
ordered him to be at once taken into the stable and placed 
upon a nutritious and wholesome diet, of which he partook 
with avidity ; in fact, his general health was not in the least 
degree impaired. His owner was anxious to see his digestive 
organs restored to a healthy condition as soon as possible. 
I therefore submitted him to the preliminary preparation for 
a mild dose of cathartic medicine, deeming it advisable to 
empty the “primae vise” of anything pernicious or irritating 
that it might contain; and this having been done, I gave him a 
ball, every day for a week, consisting of vegetable, astringent, 
and tonic agents ; after which, his alvine evacuations became 
of a natural consistency, but did not long remain so, for, 
although his work was light and easy, his food good and 
regularly apportioned to him, his stable well ventilated and 
of moderate and uniform temperature, he had many returns 
of this debilitating disease, and at length it assumed a chronic 
and incurable form. In this state the animal continued 
until the autumn of 1856, when my attention was again 
directed to him, in consequence of a very remarkable change 
having taken place in his system, a change that gave a pecu- 
liarity to his case that I have never met with or heard of in 
any other animal, and one that I think deserves recording for 
its singularity. 
Without the slightest alteration of food or treatment, his 
purging suddenly and spontaneously ceased, and his faeces 
became solid and of the usual character. At the same time, 
a considerable swelling of the extremities took place, accom- 
panied with most extensive eruptions of the skin and falling 
off of the hair ; and to such an extent did this proceed, that 
in a few days his legs, from the body to the feet, w r ere nearly 
denuded of their natural covering, and presented a most un- 
sightly surface, the skin being bedewed with an adhesive 
discharge, or albuminous and bloody, and accompanied with 
intense itching; in other respects he seemed very little amiss, 
his appetite remaining good, and his respiration and circu- 
lation undisturbed. 
After seriously revolving in my mind the origin and pro- 
gress of this strange and protracted disorder, I concluded 
that medical treatment would be a long time in bringing back 
his vitiated constitution to a state of health ; I therefore ad- 
vised his owner to turn him out for a few weeks, and try the 
effect of that upon him. I saw him again in a fortnight ; 
