INCIDENTAL AILMENTS 



through this trouble, but if the weather is 

 severe the author thinks it is better to house 

 them. The premonitory signs of strangles are 

 denoted by dulness and general unthriftiness, 

 followed by a swelling beneath the jaw, ex- 

 tending to a fulness around the throat. This 

 swelling gradually increases in size, though 

 sometimes very slowly, until it finally breaks, 

 and matter issues from the opening, or it may 

 be several openings. This is the abscess of 

 strangles, and it is customary amongst veteri- 

 nary surgeons to either blister, foment, or 

 poultice such swelling, in order to hasten the 

 maturation of the abscess. On the other 

 hand, some practitioners (fortunately in the 

 minority) allow the abscess to break itself, 

 but this is not a very wise plan, and it 

 is equally bad surgery to open the swelling 

 before it is properly ready. A slight 

 degree of fever, cough, and other minor 

 signs of constitutional disturbance, are usually 

 associated with this complaint. It is not un- 

 common to find abscess after abscess forming 

 along the track of the windpipe, and these 

 generally give a good deal of trouble. What 



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