FISTULA, OR FISTULOUS WITHERS. 209 



Ions abscess that will be likely to attract attention, is the 

 appearance of a swelling at some one of the points above 

 described. This is not a prominent, but rather a flat, broad 

 tumor, and may be quite round or oval. On examination by 

 the hand it will be found hot, tender, and evidently deep- 

 seated. If matter has not formed, the tumor will be of a 

 uniform hardness all over, and much care should be exercised 

 in examining it to determine this point. The ends of the 

 finger pressed over the SAvelling will soon detect a soft place 

 at some point of the tumor, if matter has formed. The tumor 

 may become cpiite large before matter or pus is formed, or it 

 may be formed while it is of no considerable size. 



If the tumor is let proceed, it increases in size, occasionally 

 becoming enormous, and at the same time the matter, or pus, 

 which at its first commencement was deep-seated, points 

 toward the surface or skin, and in from one to two weeks will 

 have properly " come to a head," as it is called, when the 

 tumor opens, discharging an enormous quantity of pus, often, 

 mixed with blood, or bloody matter. 



During all this time the health of the horse remains good,. 

 and there is little or no lameness ; none, unless some import-- 

 ant muscle becomes affected from the inflammation around it. 



Such is the ordinary progress of this malady from its. 

 earliest stage up to the time it matures and commences to- 

 discharge matter. But it does not, like a healthy abscess,, 

 stop at this point and commence to heal. On the contrary,, 

 the walls or sides of the abscess thicken and continue to dis- 

 charge matter, which becomes more and more offensive as- 

 the disease progresses. Every thing seems to be rotting away 

 around and beneath it, and the abscess is said to be burrowing- 

 in the parts about it. Large sinuses, or pipes, as they are 

 generally called, form along the course of the muscles iu: 

 contact with the abscess, and thus the ulcerating process con- 

 tinues to extend until nearly all the muscles of the shoulder 

 are traversed by it. Sometimes it passes down between tho 

 14 



