88 DISEASES OF THE HOESE. 



ferment in the blood and in the fluids of the body. This, 

 then, is the only true explanation of the phenomena of 

 farcy in the horse. 



Symptoms. An unhealthy coat ; bad habit of body ; one 

 leg, usually the fore leg, will swell to a very large size — 

 hot and painful, and in a day or two it will break out in 

 small, running ulcers, or sores, discharging a sanious fluid, 

 sometimes of a thick and resinous color. On tlie inside 

 of the leg, or on the side of the body or the neck, will be 

 seen a thick, corded, and elevated substance under the skin, 

 of considerable hardness, and interrupted at distances with 

 a small sore similar to that on the leg. In some cases — 

 not in every case — circumscribed, and soft, puffy swellings, 

 will be seen about the mouth, lips, and indeed on many 

 parts of the body. These swellings are not to be con- 

 founded with swelling of the legs, belly, breast, sheath, 

 etc., in cases of weakness or debility. These swellings 

 have been named water farcy by some people, but have no 

 connection Avith true or malignant farcy whatever, and are 

 not in any way infectious or contagious. After some alter- 

 ations and changes occupying a few weeks, the animal be- 

 comes much changed for the worse, the blood becoming so 

 deteriorated and changed in character that the animaPs 

 vitality soon gives way, and the horse dies a miserable 

 object. 



Causes. Overcrowding horses in small and insuflicient 

 houses, with little or no ventilation, each animal repeatedly 

 breathing the noxious or waste material from the lungs of 

 his companions, thus introducing into the blood a powerful 

 pathogen in the form of a ferment ; inoculation from the 

 virus of glandered or farcied horses, the inoculation pro- 

 ducing a ferment; debility, ending in changing the charac- 

 ter ^ of the blood* Absorption of pus fi^om sores or ulcers 



