y, give a tablespoonful of the following powder in the feed three
times a day: Cream of tartar, sulphur, and nitrate of potassium, equal
parts by weight; mix.

ECZEMA.

Eczema is a noncontagious inflammation of the skin, characterized by any or
all of the results of inflammation at once or in succession, such as
erythema, vesicles, or pustules, accompanied with more or less infiltration
and itching, terminating in a watery discharge, with the formation of
crusts or in scaling off. The disease may run an acute course and then
disappear, or it may become chronic; therefore two varieties are
recognized, vesicular (or pustular) and chronic eczema.

_Causes._--Eczema is not so common among cattle as in horses and in dogs,
in which it is the most common of all skin diseases. Among cattle it is
occasionally observed under systems of bad hygiene, filthiness, lousiness,
overcrowding, overfeeding, excessively damp or too warm stables. It is
found to develop now and then in cattle that are fed upon sour substances,
distillery swill, house or garden garbage, etc. Localized eczema may be
caused by irritant substances applied to the skin--turpentine, ammonia, the
essential oils, mustard, Spanish-fly ointment, etc. Occasionally an
eruption with vesiculation of the skin has been induced by the excessive
use of mercurial preparations for the destruction of lice. It is evident
that eczema may arise from local irritation to the skin or from an
autointoxication. Cattle fed on the refuse from potato-starch factories
develop a most obstinate and widespread eczema, beginning on the legs.

_Symptoms._--In accordance with the variety of symptoms during the progress
of the disease we may divide it into different stages or periods: (1)
Swelling and increased heat of the skin; the formation of vesicles, which
are circumscribed, rounded elevations of the epidermis, varying in size
from a pinhead to a split pea, containing a clear, watery fluid; (2)
exudation of a watery, glutinous fluid, formation of crusts, and sometimes
suppuration, or the formation of vesicles containing pus (pustules); (3)
scaling off (desquamation), with redness, and thickening of the skin. From
the very beginning of the disease the animal commences to rub the affected
parts; hence the various stages may not always be easily recognized, as the
rubbing produces more or less abrasion, thus leaving the skin raw--
sometimes bleeding. Neither do these symptoms always occur in r