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application of ice or cold water to the head may prove useful.
Apparent benefit has also followed the use of blisters on the face or
back of the ear, of setons, and later of a weak electric current and
strychnia. Tumors also may be advantageously removed.
But in cases marked by destruction of the retina or papilla, by
congestion or atrophy of the optic nerve, by destructive disease of the
optic foramen, or of the brain or its meninges, treatment is futile.
 ANOPHTHALMOS. ATROPHY OF THE EYEBALL.
PHTHISIS BULBI. MICROPHTHALMOS.

In some cases the eye is congenitally absent (Anophthalmos). In

others it is abnormally small. One such case came under the notice of
the author in which the eyeball was represented by a small black
sphere about half an inch in diameter moved by the ocular muscles.
The dam of the filly, born with this defect, had, during the
pregnancy, a burdock entangled in the forelock and causing a violent
ophthalmia which was supposed to have lasted for months. In other
cases there is a fistula opening from the vitreous behind.
Cases of wasting and atrophy of the eye follow on exudates into the
vitreous and their subsequent contraction, or on suppuration and
granulation as noted under internal ophthalmia, recurrent
ophthalmia, and panophthalmia. The condition may also result from
atrophy or degeneration of the optic nerve or of its cerebral ganglia
(thalamus, corpora quadrigemini, geniculata, etc.). These conditions
are irremediable.
 LUXATIO BULBI. DISLOCATION OF THE GLOBE
OF THE EYE.

Definition. Dog, anatomical factors. Symptoms: protrusion of bulb through

palpebral orifice, orbicular spasm, vessel, muscle, nerve stretching or tearing.
Sphacelus. Panophthalmia. Fracture of orbit. Treatment: early reduction,
antisepsis, astringents, scarify sclera, cold, astringents, puncture aqueous with
hypodermic needle, enlarge palpebral opening, suture and compress, remove
foreign bodies and injurious fragments of tissues, enucleation.

Definition. Displacement of the globe of the eye out of the orbit

and through the eyelids.
Causes. Among domestic animals the condition is most frequently
seen in the dog, which is predisposed by reason of the normal
prominence of its eye, the width of the aperture between the lids and
the absence of the orbital process of the frontal bone. Blows upon the
region and the insertion of pointed bodies, (teeth, horns, etc.), which
can act as levers using the margin of the orbit as a fulcrum are
especially liable to cause the lesion. Dog fights are the most common
occasions. Other animals may also suffer but not at all frequently.
Symptoms and lesions. In the simplest form the bulb is displaced
forward out of the orbit and through the palpebræ which latter
contract spasmodically behind it and effectually prevent a
spontaneous reduction. The optic nerve, muscles, and vessels are
unduly stretched and the circulation in the bulb is seriously
impaired, so that even in the least complicated cases any undue delay
in reducing the dislocation will lead to serious and destructive
changes in the eye. Sphacelus of the globe is not uncommon under
such conditions.
In the more complicated cases, the conjunctiva, palpebræ,
nictitans, muscles, nerves, etc., maybe more or less lacerated and the
globe itself may be seriously damaged either by internal lesion or by
an external trauma. In all these cases there is most imminent danger
of general infective inflammation of the eye, of panophthalmia, and
even of secondary general infection of the system. Fracture of the
bones of the orbit may also be looked for.
Treatment. When dislocation is uncomplicated and recent, say of a
few hours standing only, it may be reduced and a favorable issue
secured. The bulb should be first washed with water which has been
sterilized by boiling or rendered antiseptic with sublimate (1 ∶ 5000),
and can usually be pressed back by steady uniform pressure. The
insertion under one lid of a small spatula bent at the end or the one
limb of a lid speculum may assist in difficult cases. When replaced
the parts may be again washed with antiseptic solution and covered
by a bandage wet with an astringent collyria.
When the condition has been neglected for a day or more the bulb
is congested and swollen so that its return is rendered much more
difficult, and its subsequent retention may require much care and
ingenuity. The reduction of the turgid globe may be assisted by
opening the veins and arteries on the sclera, by astringent
applications, by massage, and in obstinate cases by evacuation of a
portion of the aqueous humor, by the aid of a fine aseptic needle.
Finally the palpebral opening may be enlarged by incising the outer
canthus with a probe pointed bistuory. When the eye has been
replaced in its socket this must be closed by suture. For the retention
of the eye in such cases a bandage may suffice, or this failing, the lids
may be held together by strips of adhesive plaster, or by collodion. In
very difficult cases Lafosse and Trasbot recommend sutures through
the skin 1½ to 2 inches from the palpebral borders and the whole
covered with a bandage impregnated with an antiseptic and
astringent collyrium.
It is not requisite to keep the bandage in position for over four or
five days as the swelling of the eyelids and other adjacent structures
effectually prevents any tendency to repetition of the luxation, and
the eye may be treated like an ordinary traumatic lesion.
At the outset, and later if need be, any foreign body in the orbit
should be removed and any detached pieces of bone which cannot be
retained firmly in position, and which are liable to prevent healing or
to determine infection of the wound.
 In the worst cases and in those that have been neglected until
gangrene or panophthalmitis threatens, the removal of the eyeball
may be the only resort. The animal may be anæsthetized by
chloroform or ether, or locally by cocaine. The conjunctiva covering
the sclera is then pinched up with forceps and cut through with
scissors, this is continued all around the globe. Then the recti
muscles, the superior and inferior oblique muscles, the retractor and
finally the optic nerve are cut through with a pair of scissors curved
on the flat. The divided ends of the muscles are now sutured together
around the nerve which has been cut shorter, and the cavity irrigated
by a cold antiseptic solution. Bleeding vessels may be twisted
through with forceps if the flow is not readily checked by cold
irrigation. Or a pledget of cotton dipped in tincture of muriate of iron
may be loosely inserted (firm pressure would be unnecessarily
painful). As a subsequent dressing, standard sulphurous acid
solution, glycerine and water in equal proportions, or other
antiseptic dressings may be applied.
 ARTIFICIAL EYE.

These are largely in use in the human being, and have been
employed in the lower animals in different cases, especially in the
horse, with excellent effect. The advantages may be summed up in
this, that they do away with the unsightly appearance of an empty
orbit with the edges of the lids turned into the dark aperture,
enhance the value by restoring the face to nearly the natural
appearance, and prevent the lodgment of dust and insects in the
cavity.
The artificial eye may be made to appear more natural if made of
glass, yet when made of horn or still better of hard rubber, colored
like the normal iris and pupil, it has the advantage of greater
lightness. It must be perfectly smooth so as to cause no discomfort,
and should never be introduced so long as there is any irritation in
the stump or conjunctiva. It may be slipped in like a button, first
beneath the deeper upper lid, and then beneath the lower, and
should be worn only while at work and so long as it causes no
irritation nor purulent discharge. On the return of the animal to the
stable, the artificial eye is taken out, washed and placed in clean pure
water. The orbit should be sponged out with a weak collyrium (boric
acid 1 ∶ 100).
In man, excentration is sometimes substituted for enucleation, the
cornea is removed together with the lens, vitreous, choroid and
retina, leaving only the sclera which contracts into a dense scar tissue
with the muscles attached. Or an artificial vitreous of glass or
unoxidizable metal is introduced around which the sclera is allowed
to heal. This introduces an additional element of danger over the
formation of a simple sclerotic stump, but, when successful, it affords
a better support to the artificial eye, turning it freely in harmony with
its fellow and giving it a more natural aspect.
STRABISMUS. SQUINTING. LACK OF MUSCULAR
BALANCE.

Causes: paralysis of eye muscles, bulb rolls from affected muscle, spasm of eye
muscles, bulb rolls toward affected muscle, convergent squint most common. Hold
head still and move object in front of eyes, imperfect movement toward paretic
muscle or away from the spastic one. Ptosis. Overfatigue. Debility. Nerve or brain
lesion. Dislocation of bulb. Treatment: treat any transient etiological factor,
cerebral congestion, parasitisms, debility, anæmia. Tenotomy of rectus: advance of
paretic rectus.

Strabismus may be due to a variety of causes, among others to the

following:
Paralysis of one of the ocular muscles. When the eyes are turned
in the direction away from the affected muscle the muscle is deficient
in power. It may be the external rectus (abducent nerve) producing
convergent squint. It may be of the superior oblique muscle (4th or
pathetic nerve) causing a faulty movement of the eye downward and
inward or a slightly convergent squint. Divergent squint commonly
indicates paralysis of upper, lower and inner recti, and the inferior
oblique (3d or oculo motor nerve): this is usually associated with
ptosis or drooping of the upper lid, the levator of which is supplied
by the same nerve. The existence of squint is usually so marked that
no special method of examination is required. If otherwise, however,
the animal’s head may be held still and some object which will attract
his attention is moved before the eyes, outward and inward, when
the affected eye moving in the direction of the paralytic muscle will
lag visibly behind its fellow. These conditions are usually due to
lesions in the respective nerves or their cerebral ganglia.
Spasmodic or Spastic Squint is the exact antithesis of the
above, the eye turning toward the muscle which is the seat of spasm.
It may be seen in certain cases of rabies and is always due to disorder
of the central nervous ganglia.
In some cases squinting is associated with over-fatigue, or debility,
and then usually partakes of the paralytic character.
In the lower animals convergent strabismus has been most
frequently observed. Brouwer records a case in the horse and Koch a
congenital one in the cow. Zschokke reports a case in the cow
connected with an angioma at the base of the brain. Other forms are
noted by Peters, Barrier, Bayer and others. Stockfleth quotes a case
in the dog following prolapsus bulbi and doubtless connected with
injury to ocular muscles or nerves, sustained in the accident.
Treatment will vary with the ascertained cause. As a rule cases that
depend on structural changes in the brain are hopeless. Those that
depend on temporary congestion or other transient disorder of that
organ may recover when that has been overcome. In cases in which
debility is a prominent feature, tonics, moderate exercise in the open
air and general hygienic care are demanded. The final resort in bad
cases is tenotomy of the rectus on the side toward which the eye
turns. In man when this is found to be insufficient the opposing weak
or paretic muscle is also advanced. The tendon close to its sclerotic
attachment is laid bare by incision, and a silk or catgut thread is
passed through each border, upper and lower. The tendon is now cut
through with scissors on the corneal side of the sutures and, by
means of their needles, the latter are passed through the conjunctiva
and capsule of Tenon, from within outward and close to the margin
of the cornea. The sutures are now tied somewhat tighter than is
absolutely necessary to properly balance the eye so as to allow some
room for relaxation in healing. We are not aware that this measure of
advancement has been employed in the domestic animals.
 NYSTAGMUS. OSCILLATORY MOVEMENT OF
THE EYE.

This consists in spasmodic involuntary oscillation of the eyeball in

a horizontal, lateral, oblique or rotary direction. In animals it has
been seen in connection with poisoning and brain diseases. Johné
has observed it in horses in cerebro-spinal meningitis, Wenderhold
in epilepsy, and Möller in chloroform anæsthesia. Möller has further
seen it in puppies with congenital microphthalmos, and
Siedamgrotzky in swine which had been poisoned by herring brine.
Slight cases of functional disturbance may improve under good
hygiene, open air life and tonics, cases due to poisons may recover
spontaneously when such poisons have been eliminated, but those
which depend on structural disorder of the brain are beyond remedy.
 DISEASES OF THE SKIN.

Ultimate skin lesions in man and animals similar. Masked by thick cuticle,
pigment, hair, fur, feathers. White, hairless skin. Lesions and deranged functions:
Maculæ, erythema, papules, nodules, blisters, blebs, pustules, boils, carbuncles,
scales, crusts, sitfasts, horny growths, erosions, abrasions, chaps, fissures, ulcers,
excrescences, cicatrices, neuroses, morbid secretions, changes in glands, hairs, in
derma. Scleroderma. Elephantiasis. Vegetable and animal parasites.

In cutaneous diseases in man and animals the actual lesions are

largely of the same nature, yet in the animal covered with hair, fur or
feathers, and with the cuticle deeply pigmented, the diagnosis of the
different affections becomes much more difficult. On white-skinned
animals and on parts with little or no hair, the identification of the
different forms is usually possible. The following list may serve to
indicate the nature of the different lesions, but these must not be
accepted as indicating distinct diseases, as two or more of these
forms often coexist or succeed each other in the same affection:—
1st. Maculæ: Spots: Discolorations. Examples: Black,
melanotic spots in skins of white horses: white spots in dourine, after
pustules, etc.: ecchymosis after contusions, stings, insect bites, etc.:
petechial spots in anthrax, rouget, hog cholera, rinderpest, canine
distemper, swine plague, scurvy, etc.
2d. Erythema: Rash: Flush. Congestive redness usually
disappearing under pressure. Physiological in blush or glow of
exercise, pathological from insolation, friction, deranged
innervation, etc.
3d. Papulæ: Papules: Pimples. Small, red, hard, conical
elevations, not forming blister nor pustule. Due to exudation and the
accumulation of leucocytes at given points, having a local or general
cause, (psoriasis, intertrigo, etc.).
 4th. Tuberculæ: Nodules. Larger but still circumscribed
thickening of the entire skin from exudation and cell growth, from ½
inch to 2 or more inches in diameter and sometimes becoming
confluent. Examples: Urticaria (surfeit) in solipeds, and cattle;
petechial fever, farcy, etc. Sometimes chronic.
5th. Vesiculæ: Blisters. Rounded or conical elevations the size
of a millet seed to a pea, and having a small liquid exudation under
the cuticle in the centre. In inflammations of the papillary layer, of a
sufficiently acute type the tendency is to the formation of vesicles.
These lesions are, therefore, often present in very different forms of
skin disease from those due to simple thermic irritation, to
constitutional diseases like eczema, or contagious ones like sheep
pox. May merge into pustules or other advanced lesions.
6th. Phlyctenæ: Bullæ: Blebs. In these the individual lesion is
larger than in vesicles. They are of any size from a pea upward. The
most striking example is in cantharides, blisters, scalds and burns,
but in other cases it depends on a constitutional condition or a
specially exudative dermatitis.
7th. Pustulæ: Pustules. These differ from vesicles in that the
central exudate becomes the seat of suppuration and a limited
collection of pus, at first central, though later involving, it may be the
whole area of the exudate. It is often merely an advanced stage of the
papule or vesicle. We find examples in the different forms of variola,
in lesions caused by tartar emetic or croton oil, and in several forms
of dermatitis. It is essentially microbian.
8th. Furunculus: Furuncle: Boil. Inflammatory nodosity of
the derma, resulting in a necrotic central core and suppuration. Is
bacteridian and common on the coronet and lower parts of the limbs
in solipeds.
9th. Carbunculus: Carbuncle. An inflammatory nodosity or
cluster of nodes of much greater extent, tending to necrotic change
and sloughing over a much more extending area. Microbian.
10th. Squama: Scales: Dandruff. Exudation products and cells
dessicate and exfoliate as branlike scales or thicker coherent laminæ.
Examples are found in psoriasis, pityriasis, eczema, variola,
rinderpest, etc.
 11th. Crustæ: Crusts: Scabs. Hard, solidified masses of
epidermis, blood, pus and serous exudate.
12th. Callositas: Callosity. Abnormal thickening of the
epidermis, as a physiological protective cell growth. Examples: pads
on the knees of camels, cows and even horses from kneeling on a
hard, uneven surface.
13th. Sitfasts: Necrotic Callosities. Combination of dried up
exudate of horny consistency, and a thickened, fibroid and partially
necrotic portion of the subjacent derma with little or no disposition
to spontaneous detachment.
14th. Cornu Cutaneum: Keracele: Horny Growth. Abnormal
horny growth from keratogenous tissue, or from the derma in its
vicinity or at some other point of the skin.
15th. Erosions: Abrasions. Lesions of the cuticle exposing the
true skin, and the result of itching, scratching, friction, biting or
other mechanical or thermic injury.
16th. Rimæ: Cracks: Chaps. These are linear breaches often
confined to the epidermis in the bends of joints, under congestion
and suppression of sebaceous secretion, in elephantiasis, dropsy,
petechial fever, etc. Unless they have ulcerated they may heal
without cicatrix.
17th. Crevasses: Fissures. These are chaps, which extend into
the derma, giving rise to destruction of tissue and leaving a cicatrix
on healing. Examples are found in the hollow of the pastern, behind
the knee (Mallenders), in front of the hock (Sallanders), in the
swellings of petechial fever, malignant catarrh, stocked legs, grease,
etc.
18th. Ulcus: Ulcer. A sore that extends by the continual
molecular breaking down of the forming granulations and of the
adjacent and subjacent diseased tissue.
19th. Excrescences: Hyperplasiæ: Phymata:
Dermatomata. These may include over luxuriant granulations
which rise above the level of the skin and become organized into
projecting fibro-cellular, raw or scabby masses: tumors of all kinds—
warty, papillomatous, horny, epidermic, cancerous, sarcomatous,
pigmentary, angeiomatous, tuberculosis, etc.
 20th. Cicatrices: Scars. These are puckered, raised or
sometimes depressed, lines or areas of condensed connective tissue
with a covering of epidermis, taking the place of the normal dermis
and epidermis and their appendages, which have been destroyed.
They result from traumatic, ulcerous, or atrophic destruction of the
skin.
21st. Neurosis. These may be exemplified by the intense itching
of the skin without appreciable structural change. So in cutaneous
anæsthesia and hyperæthesia.
22d. Modified Secretions. These include absence of
perspiration—anidrosis, excessive perspiration—hyperidrosis,
suppressed sebaceous secretion—asteatosis, excessive sebaceous
secretion—steatorrhea or seborrhea, fœtid sweat—bromidrosis,
colored sweat—chromidrosis, urinous sweat—uridrosis.
23d. Structural alterations in glands and ducts. Cystic ducts
—hydrocystoma, blocked ducts—acne, inflamed glands—
hidrosadenitis.
24th. Abnormal conditions of the hair. This embraces
baldness, hypotrichosis, alopecia, excessive growth of hair,
hypertrichosis, white patches, canities, nodular hairs, piedra, brittle
hair, fragilitas crinium, felted hair, plica, trichoma.
25th. Scleroderma. Hard, leathery, thickened skin. Examples in
old boars on shoulders, and in other animals.
26th. Elephantiasis Pachydermia. Enormous hypertrophy of
the skin, with usually distention of the lymph plexuses and vessels
(lymphangiectasis: see Vol. I).
26th. Vegetable parasites. Trichophyton, achorion,
microsporon, actinomyces, etc. (See parasites).
27th. Animal parasites. Lice, fleas, diptera, trombidium, Acari,
ixodes, cimex, filaria, coccidia, etc. (See parasites).
 GENERAL CAUSES OF SKIN DISEASES.

External. Internal. Traumas, abrasions, excoriations, lacerations, contusions,

compression, radiating heat, scalding, incandescent objects, solar heat, chemical
caustics, cold, freezing, kicks, bites, tusk horn or claw wounds, stings, venoms,
envenomed bites, road dust, sweat, excretions, sebum, mineral and vegetable
poisons, essential oils, fungi. Hyperæmia, exudation, depilation, sudation,
moulting, climatic changes, unwholesome or irritating foods, ptomaines,
alimentary fermentations, hepatic, renal or blood disorders, altered innervation,
youth, age, temperament, heredity. Experimental nervous cases.

These may be external or internal or both.

External Causes. Some affections of the skin are due to external
causes exclusively, while in others the local cause of irritation is
accessory but no less important in maintaining the trouble. Among
the more prominent external factors may be named: traumatisms,
abrasions, excoriations, lacerations, contusions, compression,
radiating heat, boiling water, hot or incandescent solids or liquids,
solar heat, chemical caustics and irritants, cold, freezing, injuries by
harness, kicks, lacerations with teeth, tusks, horns or claws, stings,
bites, (leeches, snakes, etc.), venoms, (snake, toad, etc.), road dust
and sweat, liquid fæces or urine, excess of sebum in sheath or vulva,
mineral poisons (mercurial, iodides, bromides, arseniates, caustic
alkalies, caustic salts, etc.), vegetable poisons (croton, bryonia alba
and dioica, heracleum or cow parsnip, polygala or milk wort,
cyclamen or sow bread, polygonum hydropiper, mustard, œnanthe,
cicuta, hypericum perforatum and androsaemum, rhus
toxicodendron, radicans and venenata, capsicum, pepper, radish,
Indian syringa, anemone nemorosa and patens, ranunculus acris,
scelerata, flammula, mericatus and bulbosus, cytisus, euphorbium
and the essential oils of turpentine, origanum, lavender, etc.), fungi
of musty food, ergot, etc.
 Internal Causes. Among these are all conditions that induce
stasis in the capillaries or lymph vessels, active hyperæmia,
exudation, depilation, profuse perspiration, shedding the coat,
exposure to cold, chill, etc., sudden access of warm weather, poor
and insufficient or rich, stimulating food, cotton seed meal, indian
corn, buckwheat, purple clover, animal food (in dogs), spiced food,
food spoilt by wet and cryptogams, indigestions, gastric and
intestinal fermentations, hepatic disorders, renal disorders with
imperfect elimination, blood disorders, and nervous disorders which
entail vaso-motor changes. Early age predisposes to some affections
(variola, warts); old age to others (eczema). A nervous temperament
in horses favors the drier eruptions (pityriasis), a lymphatic
temperament the exudative (grease, canker, moist eczema). A hot,
moist season favors most skin affections (eczema, acariasis, etc.), dry
insolation others (erythema) and cold still others (chillblains, frost
bite, chaps, etc.). Some eruptions are at first summer troubles,
disappearing on the advent of cold weather, yet in time the
predisposition increases, or the inflamed skin becomes less resistant
and the disease becomes permanent. A marked predisposition in
certain animals, appears to inhere in the constitution and proves
hereditary in the family (Blain, Lafosse, Cadeac). Nervous causes
have not been satisfactorily traced in the lower animals, yet the
dermatitis of the face and neck caused by the experimental lesion of
the cervical sympathetic or its connecting ganglia shows clearly
enough how any portion must be affected by disorder of its trophic or
vaso-motor nerves. Charcot found that experimental lesions causing
inflammation of the spinal cord, led to trophic changes and finally
gangrene of a corresponding part of the skin. Babesiu and Israï
injected oil of mustard in one side of the cord, in three dogs, and
found in several days a vesicular eruption and atrophy of the skin on
the same side, a result they supposed of the myelitis.
 DIAGNOSIS OF SKIN DISEASES.

Diagnosis. Clip or shave skin. Examine in warmth: skin and mucosæ, where
uninjured by rubbing, moisture, dryness, color, odor, discharge. Soapy wash.
Exudation into skin: pliancy: rigidity: eruption: tenderness, itching, history,
association, feeding, watering, exposure, housing, harnessing, driving. Coincident
disease. Prognosis. Microbian dermatosis, parasitic dermatosis, external irritants,
ingested irritants, toxic systemic products, constitution, renal disease, movement
of joints, harness.

The thick hairy covering of animals, and the vicious energy with
which they often rub, scratch and bite themselves, thus turning
simple into extensive and severe lesions, interfere seriously with a
satisfactory diagnosis. The following precautions are usually
demanded:
1st. Clip the animal close to the skin to allow of careful
examination. In some affections, this may be dispensed with, but as a
rule it should be followed. What appears to be a circumscribed
eruption may be shown to be general, or at least extensively diffused
over different regions. Or what was shown only by scurf or scab may
be seen in its earlier and more characteristic stage as erythema,
papule or vesicle. It may even be desirable to shave the affected part,
care being taken, not to slice off the characteristic papules, etc.
2d. Make the examination in a clear day in full sunshine if
possible. In dark, cloudy weather, and in dimly lighted stables it is
impossible to identify the different lesions. Artificial light is very
unsatisfactory. Warmth, as in sunshine, or in a warm day or room,
increases any itching and the cutaneous circulation and congestion,
and renders more lively and active the animal parasites that may be
present. These may be found in the surface scrapings taken in
warmth, and not at all if taken in cold. A hand lens will assist in the
discovery of the larger parasites, while for the smaller ones the
microscope must be employed.
3d. Examine carefully all parts of the skin and even the visible
mucosæ, estimating whether any lesions of the latter indicate
extension from the skin, by proximity, or a general constitutional
affection. Scrutinize particularly such parts as have not been abraded
by mechanical injury—those which show the primary character of the
lesion. Is the affected portion of the skin dry or moist? Some
eruptions like impetigo or grease are always moist, others like
pityriasis or dry eczema are habitually dry apart from mechanical
injuries. Ascertain the color, odor and consistency of any discharge.
It may be a limpid or reddish serum in grease, honey like in
impetigo, oily in farcy, greasy in swine plague. The odor is fœtid in
grease, canker and thrush of the frog, cheesy in variola, and mousy in
favus.
4th. To learn the true nature of the eruption a warm, soapy wash
may be essential to remove scurf, scab, and other encrustations.
5th. Note the depth and extent of the skin lesions, the thickening
of the skin, its pliancy or rigidity, its adhesions to subjacent parts or
free movement upon them, whether it is contracted into folds or
ridges, the degree of congestion, the nature of the eruption, uniform
congestive redness, papule, vesicle, pustule, squama, sore, ulcer,
nodule, slough, etc. Are the individual lesions isolated or confluent?
6th. The presence of itching and its degree are important data.
Pruritus is always excessive in ordinary acariasis, marked in eczema,
phthiriasis, and some neuroses, and very slight in a number of skin
affections (pityriasis, ringworm, grease, thrush, contagious acne).
The abrasions and sores caused by rubbing, scratching, etc., will
usually give a key to the degree of pruritus, and handling the part will
render the condition evident.
7th. The history of the case is always important. Is it chronic or
acute? Continuous or intermittent? Associated with any special
conditions of proximity to other diseased animals, to special feeding,
watering, exposure, housing, harnessing, driving, which might
account for it? Did there coincide with its eruption any indigestion,
gastric or intestinal, or any hepatic, urinary or nervous disorder on
which it might be dependent?
 Prognosis. This is subordinate to the nature, causes, course,
duration and complications of the disease.
Microbian dermatosis (variola, aphthous fever, rouget) usually
follows a rapid course and recovery is perfect with some measure of
immunity.
Parasitic dermatosis (acariasis, phthiriasis) is liable to have
serious secondary results (infection to man or animals, loss of wool,
tender skin), and to run a chronic course.
Maladies from external irritants (chafing, caustics, traumas,
vegetable, or animal irritants), do not tend to chronicity and are
often promptly curable.
Maladies due to ingested irritants (urticaria, distillery waste
eruptions), also tend to recovery when the source of irritation is cut
off.
Maladies due to toxic products of the system will be
obstinate or incurable, in ratio with the incurability of the causative
factor. Those due to the absorbed products of a simple indigestion,
will tend to terminate with the removal of the cause, while those
dependent on chronic and perhaps irremediable disease of the
digestive organs, liver, or kidneys will be correspondingly inveterate
or incurable.
Maladies due to a constitutional vice, in sanguification,
nutrition, innervation, etc., are likely to be irremovable or only
temporarily curable.
Burns and some other skin diseases are liable to become
complicated by renal embolisms, albuminuria, indigestions, etc.,
which may render the skin affection inveterate or incurable.
Dermatitis on the folds of articulations or on the seats of
harness, are sustained by the local irritation, and may necessitate
long rest, or abstention from work requiring the use of such harness.
All dermatites are liable to show special features of inveteracy, or
amenability to treatment according to surrounding conditions—
hygienic or otherwise.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF TREATMENT OF SKIN
DISEASES.

General and local. Diet: wholesome diet following laxative: restricted, generous,
vegetable. Rest, avoiding congestion, perspiration, friction, stretching, pressure.
Cleanliness. Diuretics. Purgatives. Tonics. Alteratives. Sulphur. Antimony.
Phosphorus. Calcium sulphide. Pilocarpin. Baths, tepid, warm, soapy, alterative.
Emollients, simple, medicated. Drying powders. Protective films. Stimulating and
antiseptic applications. Parasiticides. Caustics. Counter-irritants. Bandages.

These must be general and local, and the first hygienic, dietetic
and medicinal.
The diet is especially important in eruptions due to poisons such
as green food, distillery refuse, silage, roots, ergoted or smutty food,
musty fodder, irritant plants in hay or grain feed, buckwheat, etc. In
many cases a change to sound fodder and a laxative to clear the
alimentary canal of the irritant, may be all that is required. In cases
where the feeding has been parsimonious, a judiciously gradual
change to a generous diet may be required. Again when the feed has
been unduly rich, or spiced as in the patent food for stock or the table
leavings for dogs, a plainer, simpler and less exciting diet will be
called for. Indigestions, urinary and hepatic disorders due to diet
may be often corrected by a more judicious ration.
Rest is a most important element in horses and hunting dogs.
When pressure of the harness keeps up the irritation, or when active
movement reopens cracks in the tense rigid congested skin of the
heel, carpus or tarsus of the horse, the parts must be kept quiescent.
When on the other hand chaps and fissures are caused and
maintained by stocking, the patient may do much better with
exercise. In skin congestions which are aggravated by work and
increased cutaneous circulation, rest is imperative.
 Cleanliness is no less imperative. Many cases are started and
maintained by filth on the skin and in the air of the stable and hence
sponging, currying, brushing, rubbing, are directly therapeutic. Yet
care must be taken to avoid irritation where the skin is tender. In the
sensitive heels of the horse congestion, chaps, and stocking are often
determined by washing in ice cold water and leaving to dry
uncovered, in a draught of air, or by washing with common laundry
soap having alkali in excess. Even tar soap will sometimes keep up
the trouble in a specially sensitive skin. Apart from such exceptional
conditions, thorough grooming is commendable, not only in cleaning
the skin, but in improving its circulation and nutrition.
Diuretics are often beneficial in eliminating from the system the
irritant products generated from disorders in sanguification,
digestion, urinary secretion and hepatic function, as well as those
that are derived from the cutaneous disorder. They tend further to
reduce any existing fever, and to cool and relieve the burning
integument. The alkaline diuretics are often very useful.
Purgatives act in a similar way and are especially indicated in
cases due to ingested irritants, and in such as depend on morbid
products of gastro-intestinal or hepatic disorder. In many acute
attacks these may be said to be almost specific in their action as in
urticaria, and in the eruptions due to distillery products or green
food.
Tonics are often called for to correct dyspepsias, to improve the
general health and vigor, the sanguification and nutrition in weak
and debilitated conditions. Iron, cod liver oil, bitters, quinia, quassia,
calumba, gentian, nux, are often of value in such cases.
Alteratives. Arsenic may be said to act as a tonic with a special
tendency toward the skin where it affects the epidermis and
epidermic products and is applicable to many subacute and chronic
disorders, as psoriasis, acne, dry eczema, and pemphigus. It has been
further supposed to be most useful in superficial lesions, and in
those due to a neurotic origin, from the known operation of arsenic
on the nerves. It is little suited to acute skin diseases, and though
often valuable is not to be trusted as universally applicable.
Sulphur is often useful as a laxative, but also as a stimulant to the
cutaneous secretions when these are impaired.