POLL-EVIL. 189 



and be below the muscles^ in contact with the liyamentum 

 7iuch(2 ; or against the bones. The treatment must be 

 various : what would be suited to one stage or condition, 

 would not be proper for another. 



The Peculiarities of Poll-evil. — That which renders it 

 it different from a common wound — arises from the conforma- 

 tion of the parts in which it is seated, and from the continual 

 motion to which it is subject. The ligamentous, tendinous, and 

 fleshy connections uniting the head to the body are concen- 

 trated about the poll ; at which place exist those joints by the 

 mechanism of which the head is moved.^ When we therefore 

 consider the complication of the textures concerned in the 

 inflammation, and the moveable character of these parts, we 

 shall cease to feel surprise at injuries of this kind being so 

 tedious to heal. In cases where the matter lies deep-seated 

 — underneath the round portion of the ligamentum nuchce, 

 in the hollow between that and the atlas — it will dissect its 

 way among the cellular connections of these parts, and will 

 occasion ulceration of the ligaments, tendons, and bones. 

 And the ulcerative process in parts possessing such low 

 organization is naturally tardy. Nor is that of granulation, 

 by which such losses are repaired, a more active one. These 

 are parts, in fact, slow to decay, and slow to renovate ; pecu- 

 liarities which account for the intractable nature of poll-evil. 

 We not only hear of the matter ulcerating its way through 

 the synovial membrane into the joints ; but of its penetrating 

 the sheath of the spinal marrow, and making its way into 

 the cranial cavity.^ 



' For an account of the ligamentous and articular connections subsisting 

 between these parts, see " Articulations or Joints of the Skeleton," in my 

 ' Anatomy of the Horse.' 



^ Hurtrel d'Arboval details a case of this kind, the subject of which was a 

 large cart-horse, discharged from the college at Alfort, apparently cured. Some 

 months afterwards, the animal was found to be unsteady on its legs, and to 

 stagger in walking ; it became worse, and rather dragged the legs than walked 

 upon them. A fistnla existed in the nape of the neck at the time ; but it was 

 not deep, was dry, and without swelling. On the twelfth day from the attack of 

 staggers, it was unable to rise from the bed ; on the fifteenth it was destroyed. 

 An abscess containing sero-purulent fluid was discovered between the atlas and 

 the occiput, from this some of the matter had made its way between the pos- 



