TREATMENT OF INFLAMMATION. 89 



oplitlialniia caused by hay-seed in the eye, will commonly 

 not need other treatment than the extraction of the source 

 of annoyance. Should a thorn be lodged in the flesh, we 

 shall effect a much more speedy cure if we extract the sub- 

 stance; for, should we not be able to accomplish the extrac- 

 tion, a little cyst will be formed, in which the body will 

 afterwards remain : though with some risk of exciting in- 

 flammation at a future period. 



In considering the effects of inflammation, we must regard 

 both the part affected and the constitution in general. The 

 part may have its function deranged, or altogether suppressed. 

 The inflammation in it may be so slight as to leave the part 

 in its original healthy condition ; or the inflammatory action 

 may have a destructive tendency, running on to mortifica- 

 tion. We are not to suppose, because inflammation does 

 not assume a violent form, it calls for no treatment : chronic 

 attacks, or frequent relapses, are the common precursors of 

 change of structure, and consequent loss of function. Fre- 

 quent attacks of specific ophthalmia alter the delicate tissues 

 of the eye, and end in blindness : a condition by which the 

 animal is rendered unsafe. Chronic inflammation of the 

 air-passages is apt to terminate in thickening of the mem- 

 brane lining them, and thus give rise to thick wind, or to 

 roaring. Hepatization of the lungs oftener results from 

 chronic than acute inflammation. Disease of joints — of the 

 navicular bone, and of the hock, consists rather in chronic 

 than acute inflammation ; and tends to ulceration of the 

 lining membrane of the articular cartilages, and of the bones 

 also; to thickening and induration of the surrounding tex- 

 tures. It is wrong, therefore, to suffer inflammation to 

 linger in a part : though apparently mild, it may in time 

 effect changes of structure which will stop the functions of 

 an organ, and in the end disable the animal for life. 



I shall make a division of the treatment of inflammation 

 into that which is preparatory and that which is essential. 



