150 THE HORSE 



isolation, or segregation, there is no doubt that this 

 malady would have given much more trouble than it did. 

 The organisms, or germ, of strangles have been cultivated 

 outside the body of the animal, and the cultures thus 

 obtained, when injected into the body of an animal, have 

 reproduced the disease. Horses coming from dealers' 

 stables, markets, and fairs, particularly young animals, 

 seem to be very prone to the development of this trouble. 

 Strangles is characterised by a preliminary malaise, to 

 which the expression " breeding strangles " is apphed. 

 It is the horseman's vernacular for expressing the " dor- 

 mant " or " incubative " period of this disease. Follow- 

 ing this prehminary indisposition a swelhng can be felt or 

 seen and felt beneath and at the side of the jaw. It is 

 somewhat tender and painful, though these features are 

 not uncommonly absent. The swelhng increases from 

 day to day, until the intermaxillary space is considerable. 

 This is the formative stage of the abscess, and as the skin 

 becomes tenser every day, it finally softens at one point 

 and then breaks. To save time the veterinary surgeon 

 usually lances the abscess and keeps the wound open 

 for several days in order to encourage free suppuration. 

 Sometimes the abscess forms at the back of the jaw, just 

 below the ear. When this is the case the animal suffers 

 a great deal more, and the course of the disease is more 

 prolonged. Several abscesses sometimes form ; in fact, 

 the writer has seen them extending down the neck, ^ 

 following the course of the windpipe. Fever may or may 

 not be present. Sometimes the breathing is seriously 

 disturbed ; in fact, so much so as to necessitate the wind- 

 pipe being cut open and a tube inserted (tracheotomy). 

 Recovery usually occurs within a month, provided that 

 all goes well. Very little treatment is necessary beyond 

 that of clipping the hair off the seat of the swelling and 

 rubbing in a Httle blistering ointment, but it will be 

 found that the best advice we can give is to call in a 

 quahfied veterinary surgeon and leave the case entirely 



