406 INFLAMMATION OF BURSA OF LIGAMENTUM NTJCHiE. 



condition, and to have one fore-foot painfully swollen. (Edematous 

 swellings were present at different points on the body, and the left half 

 of the thyroid was much enlarged. The arteries lying near the surface, 

 amongst others the carotid, the posterior auricular, and the metatarsal 

 arteries, showed powerful rhythmical movements ; the frequency of the 

 pulse was from 70 to 80 per minute. In the cardiac region the labouring 

 action of the heart was distinctly noticeable, the thoracic wall visibly 

 moving. Examination of the blood showed no tendency to leukaemia. 

 The patient died on the third day without having shown exophthalmos. 

 The heart weighed 14 lbs., and the great blood-vessels were twice the 

 normal diameter. 



Brisot observed marked enlargement of the thymus gland in a two- 

 year-old cow. The swelling extended from the 3rd ring of the trachea 

 to the sternum, and transversely from one jugular to the other. It was 

 hard, painless, and weighed at the time of death 13J lbs. 



V.— INFLAMMATION OF THE BURSA OF THE LIGAMENTUM NUCH/E. 



In the horse the funicular portion of the liganientum nuchse is 

 provided at the summit of the second cervical vertebra with a mucous 

 bursa, which attains the size of an apple, and is covered on both 

 sides of the ligament by the complex muscles. Loose connective 

 tissue attaches the inner surfaces of these muscles to the bursa. 

 Poll-evil is due, then, to a bursitis, produced by bruising, less 

 frequently by metastatic inflammation like that of strangles, and, 

 though usually acute at first, tends to become chronic. The first 

 injury may be caused by the animal striking its poll against a rack 

 or low door ; by a fall, or blow with a heavy whip-handle ; less 

 commonly from pressure of the halter, or, as Hertwig believed, from 

 violently bending the neck when being reined up. Among animals 

 at grass, this bursitis is more generally caused by external injuries 

 than by straining the muscles of the neck during grazing. 



Symptoms. A characteristic swelling appears over the first 

 two cervical vertebrae close to the middle line, is accompanied by 

 inflammatory symptoms, and sometimes affects one side, some- 

 times both. At first fluctuating and sharply defined, it soon extends 

 to the surrounding soft parts, becomes diffuse and less yielding. 

 The condition primarily consists in the accumulation of inflammatory 

 exudate and blood in the bursa. Later parabursitis sets in, and 

 the swelling loses its sharply-defined form. The accompanying 

 pain generally causes the animal to hold the head extended, or low 

 and fixed. Sometimes brain symptoms appear. Slight fever either 

 accompanies the condition from the outset, or develops subsequently. 



If by appropriate treatment asepsis can be maintained, the 

 fluid in the . bursa may be reabsorbed, and recovery occur in 



