CHRONIC SCROFULOUS SYNOVITIS. 209 



much heat, or pain upon pressure. The swelling gradually 

 enlarges, and is of a doughy, elastic nature ; the limb below it 

 seems to waste ; the animal begins to lose condition ; the lame- 

 ness and pain increase ; and suppuration may take place ; but 

 this is by no means a uniform result. 



In some cases constitutional symptoms of scrofula may pre- 

 cede the manifestation of the joint disease ; when this is the 

 case, the diagnosis will be rendered easy, and the practitioner 

 need not hesitate to condemn the animal to slaughter. 



Pathological Anatomy. — The structures around the joint will 

 be found infiltrated in circumscribed spots with a yellowish- 

 white, caseous material, in which the Bacillus tuberculosis may 

 occasionally be found, and the synovial membrane studded upon 

 its surface with yellowish-white globular bodies, which, when 

 cut into, present the same tubercular character. These bodies 

 vary from the size of a turnip seed to that of a large pea. 



The membrane itself is found of a greyish- white colour, and 

 gelatinous in appearance, with its vessels in some parts higlily 

 injected; the synovial fluid curdy, and more opaque than 

 natural ; the cartilages of incrustation, as well as the ends of the 

 bones removed by ulceration, causing the interior of the joint to 

 present a worm-eaten appearance. In the interior of the bones, 

 round spots of tubercular matter are seen in the cancelli. 



In dissecting the various structures, it wiU be found that the 

 skin, the subcutaneous tissues, and synovial membrane are matted 

 together into an almost inseparable mass. 



Hereditary predisposition is an acknowledged fact, and when- 

 ever scrofula in any of its forms makes its appearance in a herd, 

 it will be high time to infuse new blood into it. Exceptional 

 cases may, however, be induced by neglect or other debilitating 

 influence. 



The treatment can be but palliative ; the preparation of the 

 animal for the butcher being the only end to be gained. The 

 application of blisters to the part wiU often remove the inflamma- 

 tion for a brief period, and thus allow the animal to put on fat. 



The patient must be stall-fed, kept as quiet as possible ; to 

 have food of the most fattening nature; cod-liver oil may be 

 given night and morning. If the disease has made much pro- 

 gress before the practitioner is caUed in, or if, in spite of the 

 treatment resommended, it continue to advance, the animal had 

 better be put out of its suffering. 

 P 



