SYMPTOMS 125 



This complication is one of the common 

 causes of recurrences and failures of operative 

 treatment. It is incurable and if known to 

 exist should be regarded as a contra-indication 

 of the radical operation now universally recom- 

 mended for poll-evil. 



Secondary Abscesses. — Although there are 

 fewer recesses and lamellar spaces for pus to 

 burrow into about the poll than there are about 

 the withers, there are, nevertheless, places 

 where pus will escape from the immediate re- 

 gion of the seat of poll-evil and cause secondary 

 abscesses. The common one that occurs both 

 before and after operating, localized at some 

 point of the neck along the ligamentum nuchge. 

 We have observed cases in which tracts extend- 

 ed down the ligament as far as the base of the 

 neck, the route followed being the space be- 

 tween the cervical muscles and the lamellar 

 portion of the ligaments just under the fu- 

 nicular portion. Most of these abscesses, how- 

 ever, localize at the level of the axis, where they 

 sometimes produce a stubborn condition to 

 handle by implicating the lamellar portion of 

 the ligament at that point. 



Another focus of abscess formation is the 

 space between the anterior part of the v»ing 

 of the atlas and the styloid process of the oc- 

 cipital. This complication is disclosed at the 



