234 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 



Farcy sometimes commences with an apparently trivial sore, 

 which often escapes notice. Soon after which there appears a 

 small tumour called a farcy bud, but which is at first hard, but 

 soon becomes soft, and contains, indeed, the infectious virus, 

 which, however, resembles common pus or matter in appearance. 

 Between these buds there are generally hard corded swellings, 

 Avhich are, indeed, the diseased lymphatics ; and the buds are 

 considered to occur at the situation of the valves of these 

 vessels. 



Farcy may at first be either local or constitutional, but It 

 rarely remains local long. The poison is soon absorbed from the 

 buds, and the constitution is impregnated. The most frequent 

 seat of farcy, at first, is the inside of one of the hind legs and 

 thighs ; next to this, the inside of the fore legs, or the neck and 

 the lips ; wherever, indeed, the skin is thinnest. The buds are 

 sometimes small, about the size of a shilling, at other times as 

 large as a half crown. The disease, at first, is usually confined 

 to one leg ; but as it progresses, the buds appear in various parts 

 of the body, and as they approach the head and throat, the 

 symptoms of glanders appear, and the animal soon sinks, if not 

 destroyed. There is often a considerable dropsical enlargement 

 of the leg aflfected in farcy ; and sometimes a peculiar noise is 

 heard when the animal walks, as if the joint-bones slipped in 

 and out of their sockets. These appearances, particularly the 

 latter, are very imfavourable, and the horse rarely recovers 

 when it is present. The causes of farcy are similar to those of 

 glanders, being produced either by contagion or otherwise, 

 although it may l3e justly considered that it is much less fre- 

 quently occasioned by contagion than glanders. When a nimiber 

 of horses are worked hard, fed on poor or unwholesome provender, 

 exposed to wet and cold, or closely confined in an impure at- 

 mosphere, - — when either the whole or part of these causes are 

 present, farcy will very probably be engendered. Mr. Coleman 

 used to relate in his lectures, that in the expedition to Quiberon, 

 the horses had not been long on board of the transports before 

 it became necessary to shut down the hatchways ; the con- 

 sequence of this was, that the horses were almost suffocated 

 with heat, and that almost all of them disembarked either 

 glandered or farcied. When farcy thus breaks out in an 

 establishment, its symptoms are generally very severe, and its 

 course rapid. At other times its progress is slower, but it never 

 continues for years, like chronic glanders. 



The Treatment must be very similar in its nature to that 

 recommended for glanders, but with a much greater probability 

 of success. The system must be supported by a generous 

 (though not too stimulating) diet, and the vegetable and mineral 

 tonics administered as in glanders ; but if the sulphate of copper 



