VARIETIES OP GOITRE. 401 



of slings may be desirable. Cattle can be treated in the same way. 

 The apparatus should remain in position eight or fourteen days, 

 sometimes a little longer, care being taken that the animal does 

 not lie down, and that the splints are kept carefully padded. 



Inflammatory processes sometimes require the use of cold 

 applications. Massage may be used later to bring about absorption. 

 Where the head is sunk and oedematous swellings result, producing 

 dyspnoea by narrowing the nostrils, tracheotomy may be performed 

 if necessary. Swelling usually disappears on raising the head and 

 supporting it with a girth or head-rest. 



IV.— GOITRE. STRUMA. 



The thyroid gland, though not so frequently the seat of disease 

 in domesticated animals as in man, does become affected, especially 

 in carnivora, — -less frequently in horses, cattle, and sheep. Goitre 

 in calves and lambs has been observed by Gilruth in New Zealand 

 (Govt. Annual Rep. 1901). Transitory swelling of the gland, 

 without other inflammatory appearances, is seen in horses and dogs 

 during the progress of catarrhal affections of the pharynx, but 

 disappears during convalescence. More frequently new growths 

 invade the gland. Hyperplastic processes, since olden times named 

 Struma, also occur. New growths resembling these develop in the 

 gland, but being difficult precisely to identify, are included in the 

 clinical term Goitre. 



Four varieties of goitre have been distinguished : (1) Real Goitre 

 or hyperplasia of the gland follicles, with colloid change of their 

 contents, which are chiefly albuminous. It may affect the whole 

 gland or only a portion of its structure. (2) Fibrous Goitre in which 

 there is marked increase of connective tissue, the follicles being 

 little altered. (3) Varicose Goitre, which is remarkable for its great 

 vascularity, the veins especially being much dilated. (4) Cystic 

 Goitre or pathological distension of single follicles of the gland. 



Specific new growths, like carcinoma, have been seen in dogs 

 by Bruckmuller, Zschokke, and others. Zschokke says that at least 

 30 to 40 per cent, of old dogs suffer from goitre, and whilst in young 

 animals the condition consists simply of hyperplasia of the gland, 

 the goitre of old dogs is almost always of a cancerous nature, and 

 is prone to degeneration and bleeding. Tuberculous swellings have 

 been met with by Bruckmuller and others in cattle. Johne has 

 described carcinoma of the thyroid, accompanied by secondary 

 carcinoma in the lungs of a horse. 



R.S. d D 



