250 OBSERVATIONS ON AN ACUTE AFFECTION^ &C. 
fermentation. When, however, the eruption has broken out, on 
account of indio-estible matters lodo-ed in the stomach or smaller 
intestines, a dose of purgative medicine to clear them out, fol- 
low^ed by a tonic or alkaline medicine, or both combined, will 
generally prove successful. There appears, also, to be a neces¬ 
sity, in order to prevent a retrocession of the eruption, that the 
animal be kept warm by clothing ; but where proper precautions 
are taken, and a little medicine has been given beforehand, the 
itching w'ill be much relieved, and the eruption more readily got 
rid of by the use of an evaporating lotion, and rendered so by 
the addition of a small proportion of alcohol, and this applied, 
with a sponge, over the parts. Great care should be taken to 
prevent the animal from tearing himself with his teeth, or from 
rubbing against his stall, as this might be continued till the skin 
was broken, and the hair torn off from the erythematic patch, ren¬ 
dering the disease both loathsome and mangy in appearance, and 
producing small ulcers, difficult to cure. 
When there seems a tendency in the complaint to become 
chronic, the use of a laxative, combined with carb. potassaa, 
caib. soda3 ; or, if a stimulant seem to be required, the aq. am- 
moniae, will in all likelihood prove very serviceable. 
Veterinarians have been much in the habit of using, in diseases 
of the skin, a combination of antimony, sulphur, and nitre ; and 
where there seems to be a confirmed cutaneous affection, with a dry 
coat, and little apparent derangement of the digestive organs, it 
certainly is useful. It is, however, a remedy used very empiri¬ 
cally, and appears to be too much the panacea of the stable, as 
it is given in chronic complaints indiscriminately, and must 
therefore prove, if not sometimes injurious, at least abortive of 
the end intended. 
It is very evident, from the foregoing sketch, that, if an ani¬ 
mal has been once observed to be seized with this kind of erup¬ 
tion, a little care and attention afterwards will do much to 
prevent a return of it. Observations on diet, carefully made, 
will ahvays be of use ; and much attention ought to be paid to 
the condition of the animal at the time he is fed, or has water 
given, and the temperature of the water. If a horse is heated 
by exercise, and has cold water given to him, it must produce a 
chill, and this, after a short time, will be succeeded by reaction. 
Water, in summer, should not be given as drawm from the well; 
in winter there is little hazard in doing so, because the temperature 
of the water is higher then, or as high as the surrounding air, and 
the horse is in a much less irritable or sensible state to be chilled 
from such a cause. The skin ought to be kept clean, by daily 
brushing, so that all dandrilf be got rid of, and the pores kept clean. 
