GENERAL DISEASES. 49 



or a smart cantharides blister. If these do not give relief, 

 poultices may be applied to the throat. 



Blister or poultice any enlargements, and when fluctuation 

 is detected, open with the lancet, keeping the parts as clean 

 as possible with an antiseptic solution. 



The diet should at first be laxative, consisting of mashes, 

 roots, grass, linseed gruel, etc. When the fever defervesces, 

 tonics and stimulants and more liberal diet may be given. 



Tracheotomy should be avoided, if possible, but if there 

 is danger of asphyxia, this operation should not be delayed. 



Method of performing Tracheotomy. — Elevate the head 

 and make a longitudinal incision, about two inches long, in 

 the mesial line of that part of the trachea least covered over 

 with muscular or other tissue. This spot will be found to be 

 about the junction of the upper and middle third of the 

 trachea. Two or more rings may be divided transversely, 

 or a circular portion may be excised. In the latter case a 

 needle armed with a ligature is passed through a ring of the 

 trachea, and then a circular portion is removed with the 

 knife. The tracheotomy tube is now inserted, and is left 

 as long as the difficulty of breathing continues. In malig- 

 nant strangles, such antiseptic medicines as sodium salicylate, 

 salicine, or sodium sulphite, are well worthy of trial. 



INFLUENZA. 



Synomyms. — Distemper; epidemic catarrh; the epidemic; 

 epizootic catarrhal fever ; panzootic catarrhal fever ; febris 

 catarrhalis ; courbature, morfondure. 



Definition. — Is a specific febrile disease, usually involving 

 the upper air-passages, and subject to a variety of complica- 

 tions. It generally appears as an epizootic, and its contagi- 

 ousness, though affirmed by many, is still denied by some. 



Geographical Distribution and Historical Review. — 



4 



