VETERINARY SCHOOL IN NASSAU STREET. 
91 
ther from the continued dryness or hardness of the roads, or any 
atmospherical influence producing local and partial debility, or 
the owner being tempted by the unusual and long-continued 
fineness of the weather to ride a little too far and too fast, or 
whether the whole is to be traced to the singular and inexplica¬ 
ble irregularity which sometimes attends not only medical prac¬ 
tice, but everything else, the number of cases of sprain, or lesions 
of the tendons of the extremities, or their sheaths, has, this year, 
more than doubled the average of many preceding years, and 
some of them have been of a very serious character. The sus- 
«/ 
pensory ligaments have suffered to an extraordinary degree, 
and yet the general tendency to enlargement about the legs, and 
indeed to oederaatous swellings generally, has rarely, in the 
course of my practiee, been so little. 
Among dogs, disease has taken on a somewhat different cha¬ 
racter. The cases of illness have been considerably more nu¬ 
merous than usual, but they have comparatively rarely been 
severe. Cutaneous affections have been prevalent to an extent 
altogether unprecedented. In 1833, there were 150 cases of it; 
and in the last year, no fewer than 219. Their prevalence seemed 
to be clearly connected with the temperature of the atmosphere. 
In April there were only 7 cases, in May 13, in June 19, in 
July 30, in August 42, in September 32, in October 23, in 
November 23, and in December only 16. The predisposition 
to it, and the actual appearance of it, began to increase as sum¬ 
mer came on : the disease was established as a kind of epidemic in 
August, and began regularly to subside as autumn and winter 
approached. The disease had likewise assumed a character 
almost unknown, not many years ago. The common scabby 
mange, which could be easily grappled with, and generally sub¬ 
dued, was little seen—even the usual red mange, with the fox- 
coloured stain, was not of more frequent occurrence than usual ; 
but an intolerable itching, with comparatively little redness of 
skin — rarely with sufficient to account for the torture which 
the animal seemed to endure, and, often, with not the slightest 
discoloration of the integument, was brought under our notice 
almost every day, and under its influence the dog became ill- 
tempered, dispirited, emaciated, and occasionally fairly sunk. 
All unguents were tlirown away here. Lotions of corrosive sub¬ 
limate, or decoction or infusion of digitalis, or tobacco, alone did 
good, with the persevering use of alteratives and purgatives, and 
the abstraction of blood. 
Acute mange of another form—tlie sudden appearance of red¬ 
ness of skin, and exudation from it, and actual sores, with the 
falling ofl’ of the hair, and itching that seemed to be intoler- 
