138 ANATOMY AND DISEASES OF THE NOSF AND MOUTH 



well to-day, and to-morrow he is gorged from the fetlock t3 the ha inch, and although 

 there is :iot the same redness or glossiness, there is great tenderness, a burning heal 

 in the limh and much general fever. t is simultaneous inflammation of all thd 

 absorbents of the limb. 



Surfeit _an scarcely be confounded with farcy or glanders. It is a pustular erup- 

 tion surfeit-bumps, as tl^y are called, and terminating in desquamation, not in ulcer- 

 ation, although numerous, yet irregularly placed, and never following the course of 

 the absorbents, but scattered over the skin. 



Local dropsy of the cellular membrane, and particularly that enlargement beneath 

 the thorax which has the strange appellation of water-farcy, have none of the charac- 

 ters of real farcy. It is general debility to a greater or less degree, and not inflamma- 

 tion of the absorbents. If properly treated, it soon disappears, except that, occasion- 

 ally, at the close of some serious disease, it indicates a breaking up of the constitution. 



Farcy, like glanders, springs from infection and from bad stable management. It 

 is produced by all the causes which give rise to glanders, with this difference, that it 

 is more frequently generated, and sometimes strangely prevalent in particular districts. 

 It will attack, at the same time, several horses in the same ill-conducted stable, and 

 others in the neighbourhood who have been exposed to the same predisposing causes. 

 Some have denied that it is a contagious disease. They must have had little experi- 

 ence. It is true that the matter of farcy must come in contact with a wound or sore, 

 in order to communicate the disease ; but accustomed as horses are to nibble and play 

 with each other, and sore as the corners of the mouth are frequently rendered by the 

 bit, it is easy to imagine that this may be easily effected ; and experience tells us, that 

 a horse having farcy ulcers cannot be suffered to remain with others without extreme 

 risk. 



The treatment of farcy differs with the form that it assumes. As a general rule, 

 and especially when the buttons or buds are beginning to appear, a mild dose of 

 physic should first be administered. The buds should then be carefully examined, 

 and if any of them have broken, the budding-iron, at a dull red heat, should be applied, 

 If pus should be felt in them, showing that they are disposed to break, they should 

 be penetrated with the iron. These wounds should be daily inspected, and if, when 

 ihe slough of the cautery comes off, they look pale, and foul, and spongy, and dis- 

 charge a thin matter, they should be frequently washed with a strong lotion of corro- 

 sive sublimate, dissolved in rectified spirit. When the wounds begin to look red, and 

 the bottom of them is even and firm, and they discharge a thick white or yellow mat- 

 ter, the Friar's balsam will usually dispose them to heal. 



As, however, the constitution is now tainted, local applications will not be suffi- 

 cient, and the disease must be attacked by internal medicine as soon as the physic 

 has ceased to operate. 



Corrosive sublimate used to be a favourite medicine, combined with tonics, and 

 repeated morning and night until the ulcers disappeared, unless the mouth became 

 sore or the horse was violently purged, when the sulphate of copper was substituted 

 for the corrosive sublimate. During this treatment the animal was placed, if possible, 

 in a large box, with a free circulation of air ; and green meat or carrots, and particu- 

 larly the latter, were given, with a full allowance of corn. If he could be turned out 

 in the day, it was deemed highly advantageous. It is related by Mr. Elaine, that a 

 horse, so reduced as not to be able to stand, was drawn into a field of tares, and suf- 

 fered to take his chance. The consequence was, that, when he had eaten all within 

 his reach, he contrived to move about and search for more, and eventually recovered. 

 Many horses recover under the use of the sublimate, but the great majority of them 

 die. 



Mr. Vines introduced a more effective medicine cantharides, in combination like- 

 wise with the vegetable bitters as a cure for farcy and glanders. It cannot be denied, 

 that many animals labouring under the former, and a few under the latter, were to all 

 appearance radically cured. The medicine was suspended for a while if affection of 

 the kidneys supervened. 



A still moie effectual medicine has been introduced by Professor Morton, namely, 

 the diniod''de of copper, and it has been found of essential service ir, farcy and in dis- 

 simulating glanders. He says that its action is that of a stimulant to th* 



