ERYSIPELAS.
—An inflammation of the skin and tissues beneath. Owing to a blood poison, it is characterized by a swelling and hardness of the affected parts which has a tendency to spread and form abscesses. In horses and cattle, erysipelas is nearly always the result of wounds and generally of those in the legs of animals weakened by hard work and poor food, or else in young animals whose blood is vitiated by the poison of glanders or some other animal contamination. The disturbance is noticed on the third or fourth day after the injury in the immediate neighborhood of the wound. The skin is swollen, smooth, hot, tender, and painful. The swelling gradually extends around it, sometimes deep into the muscles. The surface is hard and tense, but often when the finger is firmly pressed upon it and withdrawn a depression is left. In severe cases chills occur, the pulse is weak and quick, the breathing hurried, the bowels constipated and the urine scanty and highly colored. There is considerable thirst, but no appetite. A brisk purge is the first step in treating. Follow the purge with tincture of chloride of iron, 4 teaspoonfuls in a pint of water. Give this every three or four hours. At the same time give internally 4 tablespoonfuls of hyposulphite of soda in a pint of water three times a day. Externally bathe the wound with the following mixture: Tincture of chloride of iron, 4 tablespoonfuls, and alcohol one pint. Another good ointment is sugar of lead 4 tablespoonfuls in a pint of water. This should be applied with a wet cloth to the diseased parts.