406 
PHILLIP HESELTINE. 
with particular force of eczema in the horse, the most important 
and most frequent among the diseases of the skin. It therefore 
seemed to be of sufficient interest to briefly consider the con¬ 
ditions in eczema which invite or require the application of antis¬ 
eptic principles, to inquire into the reasons why this application 
has not been made in practice and to define the best methods 
for the same. In approaching the first of these questions, the 
much debated etiology of eczema can be entirely left out of con¬ 
sideration. It does not make the slightest difference for our 
position whether eczema is'always or in a number of cases a 
parasitic disease, or whether it owes its origin to nervous or 
tropic influences or only to external irritation. Among the 
various opinions prevailing among different schools in regard 
to its courses it is almost universally acknowledged that, 
anatomically, eczema is a catarrh, a superficial inflammation 
of the skin, not extending deeper than into the papillary stratum 
of the cutis proper. In the majority of the cases corneous layers 
of the epidermis become detached from the rete Malpighi by a 
serous exudation either in the shape of vesicles or over a large 
and more irregularly defined surface, in either instance the thin 
cover is more or less rapidly carried off by mechanical means 
and the reddened, moist rete is largely exposed. Experience 
teaches that the intact corneous layer of the epidermis furnishes 
ample protection against the entrance through the skin of patho¬ 
genic microbes into the lymph and blood circulation, and that 
the slightest break in its continuity opens a door to infection, not 
only with the violent elements of suppuration and sepsis, but also 
with those of syphilis, tuberculosis, scrofula, etc. It is evident, 
then, that the conditions in eczema referred to above afford the 
most favorable opportunity for the many microbes with which 
our atmosphere and our stables, hospitals or infirmaries, is 
charged. In tact, it has been shown that microbes, pathogenic 
and apparently non-pathogenic, are constantly found in large 
numbers and varieties on the skin, so that it seems almost im¬ 
possible that a portion of the surface deprived of the cover of the 
epidermis would remain uninfected even for a moment. The 
