Straw yards are abominations into which no feeling man should thrust the horse he prizes; and no feeling man should long possess a horse without esteeming it. The docility is so complete, the obedience so entire, and the intelligence so acute, that it is hard to suppose a mortal possessing a creature thus endowed, without something more than a sheer regard for property growing up between the master and the servant.

Every amiable sentiment is appealed to by the absolute trustfulness of the quadruped. It appears to give itself, without reservation, to the man who becomes its proprietor. Though gregarious in its nature, yet, at the owner's will, it lives alone. It eats according to human pleasure, and it even grows to love the imprisonment under which it is doomed to exist. Cruelty cannot interfere with its content. Brutality may maim its body and wear out its life; but as its death approaches, it faces the knacker with the same trustfulness which induced it, when in its prime, to yield up every attribute of existence to gain the torture and abuse of an ungrateful world.

Liberal food, clean lodging, soft bed, healthy exercise, and good grooming compose the only medicine imperative for the cure of hide-bound. The relief, however, may be hastened by the daily administration of two of those tonics and alterative drinks which act so directly upon the skin:—

Drink for Hide-bound.

LICE.

These parasites are the consequences natural to the states of filth and debility. Insects, which have been mistaken for lice, sometimes infest large stables and almost drive the horses frantic with the itching they provoke. Application after application, intended to destroy lice, is made use of. Every recognized source of contagion is exterminated. Internal as well as external medicine is resorted to, but every endeavor to remove the annoyance signally fails. The horses are fat and feed upon the best; yet they seem to breed the parasites peculiar to the opposite condition. At last some one points to the hen-roost which leans against the stable. That building is pulled down, and with it the nuisance disappears.

It may to the reader appear strange that the application which killed lice did not destroy the insects derived from fowls. Those parasites which were upon the horse doubtless perished; but the dressing being washed off, the pests came again and again, being supplied by the source of all the mischief.

Insects breathe through the skin. On that account, a hornet is more readily destroyed by dropping a little oil upon the exterior surface than by immersing the head in hydrocyanic acid. All, therefore, requisite for the removal of lice is smearing the entire body with any cheap oil or grease. But when the skin is washed, the business is not ended. Generally the horse troubled with lice is hide-bound, and may have various other affections derived from the debility which generated the parasites.

LARVA IN THE SKIN.

These annoyances are another result of turning an animal out to grass, the fly whence the trouble is derived never entering the stable. The insect rejoices in the freedom of the field; and man, by turning out his horse, finds the creature a fitting spot for the deposit of its eggs. This body is carefully deposited upon the back or sides. The warmth of the animal hatches the larva; no sooner is it endowed with life, than, with the instinct of its kind, it burrows into the skin. The integument of the horse, however thick it may appear, is soon pierced by the active little maggot, which, thus snugly housed, retains its lodging until the following spring. During the winter, a small lump denotes its abiding place; but as the second summer progresses, a tolerably large abscess is instituted.

The interior of the abscess, of course, contains pus. Upon that secretion the insect lives and thrives. The inhabitant of a warm abode, and surrounded by its food, the early period of life no doubt is, for an inactive being, highly agreeable. A division of one of these abscesses, when fully matured, is represented in the second cut, page 233.

Such swellings are acutely painful and prove the sources of much annoyance. They mostly occur upon the back. The saddle cannot be laid on one of these tumors; and, as the spine supports much of the harness, the proprietor has the vexation of beholding his horse rendered perfectly useless; for suffering, should service be exacted, occasions the creature to excite displeasure; besides, the pranks thus provoked by torture often continue after the cause has been removed.

Upon the summit of the abscess appears a black spot. It is at this spot the larva receives the air needed to support a dormant existence. This fact being known to certain people, the knowledge is employed to destroy the parasite. The swelling is first slightly greased, and then a drop of melted tallow is let fall upon the breathing place. By such means the insect is effectually suffocated, and assuredly dies.

Others employ a darning needle as the instrument of execution. The needle is thrust through the central spot into the swelling for three-eighths of an inch. The larva thereby is pierced, and the life certainly is sacrificed.

Neither method occasions at the time the slightest pain to the horse, and therefore may by some persons be esteemed highly humane; but, in the end, such plans of cure prove the very reverse. In either case the maggot dies; but the business, unfortunately, is only rendered worse by killing the source of evil. The dead body putrefies. A foreign and corrupting substance beneath the skin may enlarge the abscess to many times its original dimensions. After all, the system has to cast forth the irritating matter, and for that purpose inflammation, with its attendant fever, must be perfected. Much suffering is thus occasioned, and the proprietor is, for several weeks, forced to forego the employment of a valuable servant.

The safest, the surest, and the quickest manner of eradicating these parasites is, with the point of a lancet, slightly to enlarge the central opening, and then with the finger and thumb, applied on either side of the swelling, to squeeze out the intruder. The abscess rapidly disappears; and it only requires a few dabbings with the solution of chloride of zinc, one grain to the ounce, to close the wound. However, the best manner to avoid such annoyances is not to endeavor at saving money by treating a domesticated animal as though it were an untamed quadruped.

WARTS.

A wart, when of a fixed cartilaginous nature, should, in the horse, be eradicated immediately upon its appearance; being permitted to exist, such growths always increase in number and in magnitude. By certain people, or rather by a tradition, these excrescences are imagined to breed, or it is thought that one can produce many. That warts are possessed of any such inherent property science refuses to acknowledge; but the same system which has generated one may generate several. The faculty of casting forth such growths may even be encouraged by allowing them to remain; and it is possible that the slight shock occasioned by their removal may alter the tendency of the body. Certain it is that, by some mysterious law, nature refuses to build up only for human agency to destroy. Youatt asserts that it was once fashionable to crop the ears of horses until animals were ultimately born with the ears ready shortened.

A portrait of an extraordinary instance of warty disposition, showing the imprudence of permitting such accumulations to continue, is here given. The writer's experience cannot at all equal the disfigurement there represented; the animal was the favorite saddle-horse of a lady who could not bear the idea of the creature being put to pain. One wart first appeared upon the inside of the thigh; the motion of the legs used to chafe the excrescence, and frequent discharges of blood were the consequence. The growth increased in size, and three times was it "charmed." However, the cure, said to be potent over the human being, was inoperative upon the horse; housewife's remedies were next resorted to, but all of these proved equally unsuccessful.

At length, smaller warts began to show; it would have been easy to have removed the original excrescence, but the numerous after-growths assumed a form which would have rendered them difficult to destroy. Many of them came with wide bases and slight elevation; to have attempted the excision would have almost necessitated the flaying of a living body. The remedy, which at first was easy, was by time rendered impossible; the horse being permitted to exist, could only see imperfectly. It could not move or feed without hemorrhage being provoked. The animal, of course, became useless; but still its kind mistress could not consent to its destruction. A country farrier, previous to the author seeing the animal, had slit up one nostril to relieve the breathing, which before was much impeded. Of course nothing could be done for such an object.

There are three different sorts of growth, all of which are recognized under the term "wart." The first is of a cartilaginous nature and is contained in a distinct sac or shell, which last is entirely derived from the cuticle of the skin. Upon the sac being divided, the substance drops out, leaving behind a perfectly clean cavity, which soon disappears. Little hemorrhage and less pain attend upon this trivial operation. The second sort also is cartilaginous, but, unlike the first, is not contained within a cuticular sac. It adheres firmly to the skin, and is apt to grow large; sometimes it becomes of enormous bulk, when regarded simply in its character of a wart. The crown is rough and unsightly; the body is vascular, and the growth, from its magnitude and uneven texture, is apt to be injured, when it never heals, but invariably exhibits the ulcerative process in a tedious form. This species of wart is often to be found, though of a smaller development, upon the human hand. The third variety is hardly to be esteemed a true wart, and would not here be named, were it not universally accepted as one of these abnormal growths. It consists of a cuticular case, inclosing a soft granular substance.

It is impossible always to distinguish the first and third from the second; therefore, in a case of this kind, it is advisable to cut into the excrescence as soon as it is large enough to be operated upon. When the warts are ascertained to be inclosed in a defined cuticular shell, the quickest and the more humane practice is to take a sharp-pointed knife and impale them, or run the blade through each in succession. The edge should be away from the skin, and the knife being withdrawn with an upward, cutting motion, the sac and substance are both sundered. This accomplished, the interior is easily removed and all that can subsequently be necessary is to occasionally touch the part with the solution of the chloride of zinc, one grain to the ounce of water.

When the growth proves of the fixed cartilaginous kind, no time should be lost in its removal. The quickest plan—and not, perhaps, the most painful method—of doing this is by means of the knife. The excrescence should be thoroughly excised, being sundered at the base. Some bleeding will follow. This may be readily commanded by having at hand a saucepan of water boiling on a small fire. Into the heated liquid a budding-iron should be placed, by which artifice sufficient heat is obtained to stimulate the open mouths of the vessels when the instrument is applied to the bleeding surface, without any danger being incurred of destroying the living flesh.

Should excision be objected to, the next best plan is the use of caustic. Strong acetic acid, only to be generally obtained as aromatic vinegar, is the mildest cautery; the next in strength is butter of antimony; after that, ranks nitrate of silver, or lunar caustic; and lastly, comes a preparation invented by Mr. Woodger, to whose perceptions the veterinary profession is so largely indebted. It consists of sulphuric acid, made into a paste with powdered sulphur, and applied by means of a flat piece of wood.

Whichever remedy is adopted, it must be remembered that the application will occupy time in exact proportion to the mildness of the means employed. It may also be proper to hint to the reader that, as an animal has no foreknowledge to alarm its anticipatory fears, and as, the anguish past, the mind of the creature does not linger upon painful recollections, probably the knife is to be very much preferred.

Some people remove warts by ligatures. To this custom the author strongly objects, for the following reasons: Because the process is slow; because the pain is great and continuous, till the removal is accomplished; because the ligature soon becomes filthy, the wart, when large, often turning putrid before it falls off; and because, when small, the breadth of base and the slight projection render fixing a ligature an utter impossibility.

TUMORS.

It is impossible to particularize the nature of every tumor to which the horse is subject, such formations being so very various. Seldom are two cases met with in which a precisely similar structure is developed. More seldom are two cases encountered located upon the same part. These growths are liable to every possible change. One may be very small, but extremely malignant, or of that kind which seems to resent the slightest interference. Employ the knife to this last sort, and incurable ulceration may start up. All remedies may be powerless and the life may be sacrificed. Such growths are, happily, rare in the equine species; but the author has heard of their occurrence, although it has not been his misfortune to encounter one. Another shall be of such enormous size as to impede the motions, yet will be perfectly bland in its nature. A portrait, not of the largest tumor which the writer has witnessed, but of the most awkwardly situated, is represented herewith. It was not malignant. The horse which carried about this burden was brought to the veterinary college during the time when the author was attached to that establishment. The animal had previously been under the treatment of various veterinary surgeons. All had cut and cauterized the enlargement, but without reducing its magnitude. The wounds healed quickly, and the constitution appeared not to be in the slightest manner affected.

Why was not the swelling removed with the knife, when the kindly nature of the growth had been ascertained? For good and sufficient reasons. No operation could, with the slightest prospect of success, be hazarded. In the first place, nature is apt to resent the loss of so large a substance, or, in other words, although the surgery may be perfect, the life, from some unexplained cause, is likely to depart before the operation is finished. In the next place, most bland tumors, when of magnitude, are of a semi-cartilaginous nature, and spring either from tendon or from bone—usually from the latter. This tumor impeded the action; hence it was inferred that the substance ramified among the fibers of the pectoral muscles. Those fibers are large, and are divided; they present interspaces, between which the abnormal growth might readily penetrate. Now, unless every portion of the tumor were excised, the enlargement would sprout again, and the surgeon would be disgraced. To remove the pectoral muscle of a man, would be esteemed of little consequence, so that the life was preserved. But the limbs of the horse constitute the value of the creature's existence and to disable these from being safely moved, would be to return a burdensome life to the proprietor. Therefore that which is compatible with human surgery could not be entertained in veterinary science.

A tumor may be small and soft, yet it must be respected. It may be hard, or even ulcerated and large, still its excision may be readily accomplished. The majority of these growths which appear upon the horse, however, are not malignant. Nevertheless, let every man consult some duly qualified veterinarian of experience before he resorts to measures which, possibly, may lead to the acutest regret.

One caution must be given before the subject is concluded. Gray horses, which have grown paler with age, or have become white, are liable to an incurable and malignant disease termed melanosis, which hereafter will be fully described. The presence of this disorder is generally testified by the appearance of some external tumor. Unless that enlargement be of great size and admirably situated for removal, it on no account should be interfered with. Let, therefore, every light-gray or white horse having a tumor be submitted to some experienced judgment, and let the owner be guided by the opinion he receives.

SWOLLEN OR FILLED LEGS.

These are one of the most common troubles of the stable; the coachman is very apt to complain piteously that in the morning he is sure to find such and such a horse with the legs filled. Commonly the hinder limbs below the hock are thus affected; sometimes the fore legs below the knee will be involved. The coachman mostly bandages the parts. In mild cases this resort may answer; but in bad instances the leg above the bandage is apt to enlarge. The cloth or flannel, before applied, should be wetted; this, however, affords but a temporary relief; the wet often causes the hair to curl, and the uniformity of the appearance is thereby spoiled. After some time, the bandage frequently leaves its impress upon the leg, and it is astonishing how long in peculiar cases this impress will continue.

Swollen legs mostly occur in heavy animals and in overgrown carriage horses; such creatures are of weakly or soft constitutions. They have a vast tendency to become partially dropsical. Fast work exhausts the system of the carriage horse, while high food stimulates its natural disposition toward disease. With heavy horses, the prolonged hours of labor are equally debilitating, and the Sunday's stagnation generates disorder; neither have any innate hardiness to withstand injurious influences; both, when highly fat, have the weakness inherent to their constitutions greatly increased. The quadruped, loaded with the accumulations of many months' repletion, may please the eye of the master; but it is rendered more subject to disease, and less capable of labor or of activity.

Persons who require fast work, should employ light vehicles and small horses; the creatures should be principally supported by grain—a little hay may be allowed during certain times, when the animal's attention requires to be engaged; but the chief sustenance ought to consist of oats and beans. When the carriage is not wanted for the day, care should be taken to see the groom gives at least four hours' exercise.

With regard to the heavy animals, the custom of blowing them out with chaff or hay is not to be commended. A good horse is surely deserving of good provender, and the best manger food is not generally deserving of any higher character than the word "good" may convey. A horse for work should be in sound flesh without being fat; when not required, it should not be allowed to remain in the stable all day. Who, however, ever saw a cart-horse being exercised? These animals have to stand in the stall of a heated stable throughout the Sabbath; the excuse is, that the creatures may enjoy a day's rest. But four hours' easy exercise given at different times, although it might occupy the time of the attendant, would assuredly greatly add to the comfort of the quadrupeds which he is paid to look after.

When a horse is troubled with swollen legs, take it from the stall and place it in a roomy, loose box; nothing more quickly removes this affection than easy and natural motion. At grass, dropsy generally attacks the abdomen; but the author has not heard of the legs being affected in the field, the limbs there being in constant action. Having placed the animal in a loose box, abstain from giving hay for some weeks; procure some ground oak-bark; having damped the corn, sprinkle a handful of the powder among each feed of oats. Particularly attend to the exercise; and should the legs still enlarge, do not allow bandages to be employed, but set both groom and coachman hand-rubbing till the natural appearance is restored.

SITFAST.

This, whenever it occurs, provokes great vexation. Generally it affects animals of the highest value or of fast capabilities, which are used only for saddle purposes. The affection consists of a patch of horn, resembling a corn upon the human foot. These patches are not absolutely large, though of course in size they vary. Neither are they all similar in form or in thickness. In one respect, however, a family likeness runs throughout the kind. They are not simple corns, but their different nature is shown by a margin of ulceration. The situation which they invariably occupy is under the saddle-tree. Their presence, of course, obliges the horse to be disused; and they are the more annoying, since there is no chance of these comparatively trifling ailments disappearing without treatment. The treatment, moreover, cannot be speedy. Whatever measures may be resorted to, time is necessary for the cure; and, during this space, the proprietor sees his horse in high health and spirits, but is forbidden to mount it because of a petty blemish which, in his eyes, is perfectly contemptible.

Sitfasts, though all said to be caused by the friction of the saddle, have several distinct excitants. The saddle is without life, and cannot of itself injure the quadruped. It is common to account for a sitfast by saying the saddle does not fit. Such may occasionally be the case; for a saddle, if badly made, will chafe the skin and produce a sitfast. But this cause is in operation less often than is imagined. A retired surgeon, whom the author had the honor of visiting at Reigate, wore a cork leg. That gentleman stated that, whenever the leg used to chafe the stump to which it was attached, he always considered his body was out of order. Medicine then was taken, and the symptom disappeared. We mortals refuse to think the horse ails anything unless the animal is alarmingly prostrated. All smaller ills are disregarded; yet that derangement of the stomach which caused the stump of a man's leg to become painful from pressure may, if not attended to, also cause the skin of a horse to exhibit a sitfast.

An awkward horseman is the more frequent source of the complaint. There are gentlemen so very energetic as riders that the best of saddles may be readily moved under them. The saddle must be well made indeed which can, under no circumstances, be stirred upon the back to that extent which is required to generate a sitfast. Loose girths will likewise establish the nuisance, and so also may the saddle-cloth whenever it is hastily put on so as to become thrown into a fold when the horse is mounted.

The speediest cure for a sitfast is the knife. The excrescence is quickly removed; and the wound, if treated with the solution of chloride of zinc, one grain to an ounce of water, soon heals. A more tedious plan of removal, and one not recommended by any proper feeling, is to rub into the sitfast, every night and morning, a small quantity of blistering ointment. Such is the usual direction; but the ointment may be applied, for some time, to a layer of compact horn, before the true skin or flesh beneath is affected. The unguent must therefore cover the perhaps ulcerated margin of the sitfast; and even then it is a tedious and a painful operation, not likely to improve the disposition of an animal which it is so desirable to keep free from every excitement.

While the sitfast is being operated upon, the bowels should be rendered pultaceous by bran mashes. Four of these per diem will usually loosen the most constipated body in two days. That effect being gained, while the food is liberal and the animal is led to plenty of exercise, give one of those drinks, night and morning, which are tonic to the system, but seem to exhaust their virtue upon the skin.

Drink for Sitfasts.

GREASE.

This filthy disorder is a disgrace to every person concerned with the building in which it occurs; it proves neglect in the proprietor, want of fitness or positive idleness in the groom, and culpable ignorance or the absence of the slightest moral courage in all people entering the doors of the stable. It is one of those disorders which it is easier to prevent than to cure. By an ordinary regard to cleanliness, and by an average attention to the necessities of the animal, this taint may be avoided; wherever it is witnessed, it not only argues the human being to whom the building belongs to be in the lowest stage of degradation, but it also testifies to the sufferings endured by the poor creatures which are compelled to drag out life in such custody.

The grease is, in the primary instance, inflammation of the sebaceous glands of the legs; but it soon extends beyond the limits of its origin, and involves the deeper-seated structures. A white leg is more subject to the disorder than one of another color, and the fore limbs are almost exempted from the ravages of grease. The reason of that exemption is found in the greater proximity of the anterior extremities to the heart or to the center of the circulation. Consequently the vitality in the fore legs is more active, and the flow of blood much more energetic; hence the anterior extremities can resist that ailment which fixes with impunity upon the posterior limbs. Added to this, in the fore legs the vessels describe almost perpendicular lines, whereas in the hind members the arterial current is impeded by numerous angles; these conditions doubtless operate upon the health of parts, but, above everything else, ranks the fact that the front legs are not subject to the same external causes as are the members more backwardly located. The stalls are drained from the manger to the gangway; consequently all the contamination of the space in which the horse is confined flows toward the hind feet; there are, moreover, other reasons, which the intelligence of the reader will not require should be particularized.

Grease is banished from every decent stable; it may, however, be occasionally encountered in situations very much secluded; there yet remain places whence so foul a disgrace is never absent. The wretched animals which are employed in brick-yards, in dust-carts, and in drawing canal boats are hardly ever free from this loathsome disorder. These creatures labor incessantly, and are removed far from the wholesome check which brutality receives from public opinion; they are resigned to the mercies of men who, as a class, are certainly not the most refined, and are seldom inconvenienced by any excess of feeling. The places, not stables, into which the miserable quadrupeds are thrust can rarely be entered without the peculiar smell which announces the existence of grease almost overpowering the stranger. The fact is unpleasant to human sense, but it is only right that the probable effect upon the creature, which is doomed for the duration of its weary life to inhale such an atmosphere, should be considered.

Smell is perhaps the most acute sense with which the equine race are endowed; the horse can appreciate that in which the human being vainly endeavors to detect even the slightest odor. Not only is the scent far more acute than that of man, but the two beings have to be compared as regards their habits; the animal is most cleanly in its tastes. Flesh it abhors, and all fatty substance it shrinks from; men eat such things with appetite. Then, the human subject can dwell, and even labor, in a tainted atmosphere with comparative impunity. A quadruped may be forced to toil in such a place; but those who oblige the creature to do this kind of work know the certain consequences of the act. They buy cheap and old horses—animals which have suffered much, and have but a year or two longer to exist. Were younger or dearer quadrupeds purchased, in which an energetic constitution would render disease more malignant, and were such animals obliged to breathe such contamination, the loss in every way would be fearful.

There is, at present, a great fuss made about sanitary laws; but the attention of those to whom such subjects are confided seems to be engrossed by man and his excretions. No one yet appears to have imagined that the subject involves life in all its varieties; the horse cannot exist in the air which human lungs have exhausted; man cannot live in the atmosphere in which the horse has perished. The two creatures are not, therefore, entirely distinct; but the open nostrils and huge lungs of one horse can consume the oxygen which would support many men. Then, the dung of the horse, which is always exposed, gives off fumes only slightly less dangerous than those which emanate from the human body. Yet officers pry into alleys and into courts; they enter the habitations of the poor, and count the number of those who sleep in each room. The impacted people are pointed to as the source of certain diseases, and society shudders as the medical report is circulated. No one, however, visits the stable; no one inquires whether horses live in the space which affords sufficient atmosphere to support existence; no one has yet traced disease in man as probably originating in the close and contaminated fumes of nearly every London mews. Still, if the over-crowded rooms of the poor merit an elaborate report as so very dangerous to society, may not the stifling and reeking condition of the stables deserve a passing comment in its relation to the same effect?

Cutting the hair from, and thereby exposing the hinder heels to the operation of cold and of wet is no unfrequent cause of grease. Such is a common practice with lazy horsekeepers when not stimulated by the proprietor's eye. In winter, when the legs most require warmth and protection, the heels are deprived of the covering which nature intended should protect them; and parts where the blood flows most tardily are laid bare to the effects of evaporation and of frost. When the animal returns soiled from work, most grooms will sluice a pail of cold water over the legs; the dirt is thereby washed off, but the legs are suddenly chilled, and soon become more cold, because of the moisture which they retain and of the evaporation which ensues; for very few stablemen, finding the appearance pleasing to mortal perceptions, think about the comfort of the creature which is principally concerned.

Sudden chill striking a part, and followed by gradually-increasing cold, will certainly induce congestion; the foundation of disease is thus laid. The better plan would be to instruct the groom that appearance is secondary to the welfare of his charge. Order the man not to mind about leaving his horses so very clean and tidy; never allow the hair, which grows long and luxuriant about the heels, to be cut off. Leave strict orders that, when the animal returns with dirty legs, the stableman is to take several wisps of straw and rub them until the surface is quite dry. The absence of wet will greatly add to the comfort of the horse, while the friction will increase the circulation and prove the very best preventive to disease. With the moisture, of course, much of the dirt must be removed; any which is left behind will readily fall out on the following morning, upon the hair being carefully hand-rubbed and combed. However, mind and see this is done, for it entails some trouble; and, if you are content with merely giving orders, the "old buffer's megrims" are sure to be laughed at and disobeyed.

Turning out to grass, especially during the colder months, when the wet is particularly abundant, and the bite peculiarly short, is another fruitful source of this affection. If a well-bred, aged animal, which has done its work, after a life spent under the protection of the stable and in the enjoyment of its carefully-prepared diet, is, from mistaken motives, turned into the field, life may be prolonged, but it is at the expense of much suffering, with the almost certain visitation of grease in a virulent form.

The earliest symptom of approaching grease is enlargement of the legs, accompanied by considerable heat of the skin. If the animals be now observed, they will be seen to be uneasy in their stalls; the hinder feet are occasionally noisily stamped upon the pavement. Should the hair be examined, it will be discovered loaded with scurf about the roots, while one hind foot will be frequently seen employed to scratch the back of the opposite leg.

Should these indications attract no attention, the hairs soon begin to stand on end or to project outward, as though each was actuated by a separate purpose, and each desired nothing so much as to avoid its fellows. At the same time, the part begins to exude a thick, unctuous moisture, from which the disease derives its name. This hangs upon all the hairs of the heel in heavy drops. It is an offensive secretion. It emits a remarkably pungent and a very peculiar odor, which, once inhaled, is never afterward to be forgotten.

Should no regard be now bestowed upon the sufferer, and should the horse be worked on despite the lameness which it now exhibits, the skin swells, while cracks, deep and wide, appear upon the inflamed integument. The lines of division ulcerate, sometimes very badly; a thin, discolored, and unhealthy pus mingles with the discharge; the odor grows still more abominable, while the wretched animal becomes yet more lame.

Should, even at this period, no proper remedy be applied to check the disease, the leg enlarges. Proud flesh, or fungoid granulations, sprout from the lines of ulceration. The granulations grow in bunches, and have a ragged surface. Often the masses are of great size, and shake, as though about to fall, with every movement of the foot. The points, from exposure, become dry and hard; their nature, from that of fungoid granulations, changes to a substance resembling horn, like which, they are without sensation. These bunches have been named "grapes," which they are vulgarly thought to resemble. The likeness, however, is very distant—the one being pleasant to look upon, the other forming a painful and disgusting spectacle.

However insensitive the points of the bunches may become, the limb itself, throughout the disorder, possesses a morbid sensibility. The gentlest touch occasions exquisite torture, and the animal will tremble lest the agony should be repeated. Upon the slightest impression, the leg is instantly snatched up, nor is it trusted again upon the earth until fatigue necessitates rest or till the cause of suffering has departed. Horses have even suppressed their urine, lest the fluid, splashing upon the seat of disease, should provoke any access of the infliction. Few greasy animals ever have a bed under them, the straw of which might arrest the liquid in its flight. Indeed, such a luxury might save them from one source of torture, but assuredly would start up another. The ends of the straw, pricking or even touching the disorder, would cause such agony as must occasion the animal constantly to stand in terror.

One peculiarity, witnessed during grease, has not been indicated in the above illustrations. It has been purposely omitted, because, though invariably attendant upon the disorder, it in reality forms no part of the malady, being only a sympathetic effect. The cutis is continuous with the coronet and lamina, which secrete the outward horn of the hoof. Any disease fixing upon the one, of course cannot but affect the other. The irritation which involves the skin of the leg, therefore, necessarily stimulates the growth of the foot. The hoof of a greasy leg, from this cause, often becomes of enormous dimensions but this peculiarity has not been noticed, because it was desired to keep the attention of the reader fixed wholly upon the more immediate symptoms of the loathsome affection.

The remedy for grease is simple enough. Indeed, did not a sense of duty oblige it to be resorted to, the smell would, in the majority of persons, induce it to be employed. In the first place, clip off the hair—if any remains to be cut off. The natural protector of the heels now can conserve nothing. It can only heat the skin and retain the discharge. This being accomplished, if the leg merely be hot and scurfy, have it thoroughly cleansed with curd soap and warm water. Then a cloth, saturated with the lotion for the earliest stage of grease, should be laid upon the inflamed integument. This should be removed so soon as it becomes warm, and another, also dripping, should immediately supply its place. Thus a wet, cold cloth should constantly cover the part till the heat is destroyed, or at all events is greatly mitigated.

For this purpose, two men are required, one to remove and the other to apply. Four old cloths will be necessary. These, when removed, should be flung over a line, so that as large a space as possible may be exposed to the cooling action of the atmosphere. There is nothing so disagreeable in performing this office as might at first appear. The active agent of the lotion is a powerful disinfectant and deodorizer. The first cloth removes almost all the fetor, and hanging the wrappers subsequently over the line effectually purifies the atmosphere. The part being reduced to a comparatively natural temperature, the after-treatment consists in renewing the cloths so often as the heat returns; and in otherwise moistening the limb with some of the subjoined lotion thrice daily:—

Lotion for the earliest stage of Grease.

When the cracks, with ulceration, appear, the previous lotion is too weak to be of much service; but the same treatment must be adopted: only one of the lotions subsequently given should then be used:—

Lotion for the ulcerative stage of Grease.

Or—

Should the spurious granulations have begun to sprout, lose no time in having the horse cast. Have near at hand a small pot, with a charcoal fire beneath it. Let the vessel be full of boiling water. Within the fluid, previous to the casting, insert several irons; then throw the animal. With a keen knife excise the external bunches of proud flesh. As each lump is removed, much bleeding will ensue; therefore, before using the knife again, take an iron and lay it flat upon the raw surface. Should one not check the hemorrhage, return the first to the saucepan and apply a second. It is necessary to operate with as small a loss of blood as possible; for horses having grease are always old and debilitated. In this manner proceed till all the external growths are cut away. Then let the animal rise. Enough has been suffered for one occasion; more agony the exhausted system of the animal might not sustain. Besides, with every attention concerning the irons, the bleeding, generally, will not permit more to be accomplished.

One thing has been forgotten. When removing the fungoid excrescences, it is always well, for the comfort of the operator, to have the leg previously saturated with chloride of zinc; also to have a man, with a sponge and a quart of the solution, ready to bathe the limb as fresh surfaces are exposed. Subsequently wet the leg frequently with the lotion last recommended.

In another three days the animal may, a second time, be cast. The operation being again confined to the crop of growths which on the former occasion were exposed; all the previous directions should also be strictly carried out. After three days have once more been suffered to elapse, the horse, if necessary, should be thrown for the last time, and the knife once more employed. The after-treatment will depend much upon circumstances. If the ulceration predominates, employ the last lotion. Should the granulations appear likely to grow, make use of the first solution of chloride of zinc—only it should be double the strength which was originally recommended. When both ulceration and granulation appear equal, the first and last lotions may be alternated.

Such are the chief remedies necessary for the cure of grease. The other measures are: the removal to a loose box thickly bedded with refuse tan; the food should be liberal—old beans are now of every service; each feed of oats should be rendered damp, and a handful of ground oak-bark ought to be thoroughly mixed with it. For medicine, those excellent tonic and alterative drinks may be thus prepared, and given daily:—

Drink for Grease.