THE MODERN HORSB DOCTOR. 389 



The others all recovered ; four of the number, however, having 

 swollen legs, were permitted to run a few days at grass before 

 they could be put to work. Veterinary writers speak of several 

 forms of farcy ; but these are only varieties of the same disease, 

 differing only in their symptoms and duration, assuming a mild 

 or malignant form, as the case may be, in exact ratio to the 

 general health of the subject. 



The first stage of farcy is tumefaction of the lymphatics — 

 " development of the farcy bud." 



The second stage is commonly a suppurative one, terminating 

 in a farcy ulcer. After passing through these two stages, the 

 disease may, and frequently does, terminate in glanders. Hence 

 the prognosis of farcy, in most cases, is considered unfavorable ; 

 yet, when it attacks horses in good condition, some hopes may be 

 entertained of a cure. In the diagnosis of farcy we are not apt 

 to be mistaken, provided we keep in mind the language of a dis- 

 tinguished veterinary writer, who says, " No swelling of a hind 

 limb (or any other part) constitutes a case of farcy apart from 

 the unequivocal signs of lymphatic disease ; there must be pres- 

 ent corded, nodulated sw r ellings, — buds in some form or other, — 

 together with actual or approaching tumefaction of the lymphatic 

 glands, or the case is not farcy." 



" I cannot help thinking," says the same author, " from accounts 

 I have perused in some veterinary works, that both glanders and 

 farcy have been mistaken ; or, rather, that diseases of another 

 kind have been mistaken for them, and for farcy oftener than for 

 glanders. One disease in particular, and one that is by no means 

 so very rare in its occurrence, I feel quite certain has been called 

 by the name of farcy, and under this appellation appears to have 

 been ' cured,' and to have been recorded as such. The disease 

 I allude to is that which is now known by the name of diffuse 

 inflammation of the cellular membrane — a disease consisting in 

 the generally sudden appearance of lumps or patches of sub- 

 cutaneous effusion of a solid and even firm description, attended 

 by oedematous, swollen states of the limbs, belly, sheath, &c. ; 

 and thus having, so far, the character of water farcy.* But in 



* What was in former times known as water farcy is now understood as super- 

 ficial dropsy — an effusion into the cellular tissue. 



33* 



