POLL EVIL. 461 



they are early checked, extend to the ligamentous arti- 

 culations which connect the neck with the head. It 

 is most common in large coarse horses. It is sometimes 

 occasioned by hanging back in the stall, and thus forcibly 

 pinching the poll between the collar rein, or halter, and the 

 bones of the neck : blows, also act in the same manner, given 

 either by the horse himself in rising, or received by knock- 

 ing his head against a low door-way, when leaving the 

 stable, or inflicted by brutal chastisement with the butt-end 

 of the carter's whip. Inflammation results, in a degree 

 proportioned to the extent of the injury : if moderate, 

 resolution may occur ; but if it has been great, and the 

 ligamentous parts have become injured, resolution never 

 takes place : on the contrary, from the living powers of 

 these parts being comparatively small, an unhealthy inflam- 

 mation follows ; from which circumstance it is that we never 

 meet with healthy pus from poll evil ; but, rather its 

 opposite — a thin sanious discharge, or sometimes a more 

 glairy one. 



Treatment of poll evil. — This regards its nature and its 

 extent. If it be the early state of abscess, whether it is 

 deep or superficial, we must first open it freely, and then 

 endeavour to promote the healing process. Should the ab- 

 scess not be fully formed, we should use our best endeavours 

 to make it maturate ; which end will be best attained by a 

 mild blister rubbed in as often as required, till the fluctuation 

 is felt either on one side or the other ; when the next indica- 

 tion is to procure a speedy evacuation to the contents, and 

 a depending orifice for its future passage, that no sinuses 

 may form ; this may be done by the introduction of a seton, 

 first inserting the needle in the middle of the tumour, and 

 passing it out at the most depending part. In case the 

 tumour is a central one, and its limits extend equally over 

 the neck, do exactly the same by the other side. But when, 

 from improper management, matter has not only formed, 

 but has been suffered to remain ; or has only evacuated itself 

 by a superficial opening, either natural or artificial, and not 

 from one in a depending situation ; in such cases, the healthy 

 secretion of pus always ceases, and instead of it, a thin 

 ichorous or a glairy discharge succeeds ; the ulceration also 

 extends still further ; sinuses form in every direction ; and 



