VACCINE-THERAPY 99 



through this area the protective bodies and tissue cells have 

 had their vital energies depressed by the poison, and their 

 offensive and defensive powers consequently lowered, giving 

 the bacteria a chance to gain another and extended footing. 

 The only antiseptic solution the writer uses now for 

 these cavities is weak boric lotion, and great results will 

 follow the free use of cold tap-water irrigations. Normal 

 saline solution also makes an excellent dressing as a mild 

 antiseptic, tissue stimulant, and restorative. 



Fistula of the Presternum of the Horse. 



This condition, in our experience, is not very common ; 

 having only seen six cases, and three of these have 

 occurred within the last four years. The condition is 

 caused by the animal usually running against some hard, 

 fixed object, and bruising the structures from the skin to 

 the cariniform cartilage. A hard or semi-hard swellinsr 

 results ; the animal walks stiffly, with fore-legs held wide 

 apart. In course of time — usually a considerable time — 

 an abscess forms, points, and bursts, the discharge being 

 of a thin, glairy, sometimes brown or dark-grey colour. 

 The swelling tends to subside if the discharge is sufficient, 

 and the animal then goes better; the pus may cease flowing, 

 the wound closes, and the swelling, pain, stiffness return, 

 and when a sufficient purulent accumulation has taken place 

 the abscess again points and bursts, and these processes 

 go on indefinitely. It is probable there is no case of 

 spontaneous cure on record. 



As with poll-evil and fistulous withers, we have here also 

 the same forces at work and the same anatomical drawbacks 

 which Nature encounters in her endeavours to bring about 

 recovery — i.e., pus-producing bacteria on the one hand, and 

 the deficient blood-supply going to the injured parts on 

 the other. Sometimes one sees a solitary sinus, at other 

 times there may be two or three, leading either to one or 

 more foci in the sternum. 



As with all other bacterial invasions, so here one must 



