299 



WATER-FARCY. 



According to our best writers, water-farcy is not farcy — 

 '* it is indeed/^ as Gibson says, " another disease, and has 

 little or no resemblance to true farcy, either in its causes, 

 symptoms, or effects ; and has only obtained this name 

 through ignorance or custom/^ This author gives the fol- 

 lowing description of the disorder : 



" The water-farcy is of two kinds, one the product of a feverish dis- 

 position ; the other is dropsical, and of that kind which in man resembles 

 the anasarca, where the water is not confined to the belly and limbs, but 

 shows itself in several parts of the body, with soft swellings which yield 

 to the pressure of the fingers, as is usual in all dropsical habits. This 

 last kind usually proceeds from foul feeding, or from the latter grass and 

 fog, that often comes up in great plenty with long- continued rains, and 

 breeds a sluggish viscid blood." 



There is truth in these observations : they are the result 

 of practice. Swelled legs, through neglect, often prove the 

 forerunners of watery farcy ; though the last is a disease of 

 distinct origin. It commonly attacks one limb, sometimes 

 both hind, occasionally all four legs. The member in a 

 night becomes swollen from the thigh to the foot : the 

 horse, when walked out, carries it stiffly, but does not halt 

 upon it. The skin of the limb feels hot, and the animal 

 manifests tenderness if it be pressed. The tumefaction in- 

 creases, with the heat of the skin, and the tenderness be- 

 comes so acute, that the animal can hardly bear to have it 

 touched, and should it be roughly handled, thrusts it out 

 to one side, in the most awkward manner. At this time 

 effusion takes place : masses of lymph are poured out under- 

 neath the skin, generally upon the inner and upper part of 

 the thigh, in most abundance, which are plainly perceptible 

 to the fingers, and pit when firmly pressed upon ; frequently 

 there appears upon the surface of the skin, drops of a 

 transparent, yellow fluid, to which symptom the disorder 



