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FARCY. 129 



enters the heart, seems to be arrested by these valves, and they inflame and 

 swell ; and therefore the first indication of this disease, even before any 

 drooping-, or loss of condition, or of appetite, is ge'nerally the appearance of 

 little tumouYS— farcy buds — close to some of the veins, following the course 

 of the veins, and connected together by a kind of cord, which farriers call 

 corded veins. When they are few and small they may possibly exist for several 

 weeks without being- olDserved ; but at length they increase in number and 

 in size, and become painfid and hot, and some of them begin to ulcerate. 

 They appear usually about the face or neck, or inside of the thigh, and in 

 the latter case there is some g'eneral enlargement of the limb, and lameness. 



In some cases, however, the horse will droop for many a day before the 

 appearance of the buttons oy farcy buds ; — his appetite will be impaired; — 

 his coat will stare ; — he will lose flesh. The poison is evidently at w^ork, but 

 has not gained sufficient power to cause the absorbents to swell. In a few 

 instances these buds do not ulcerate, but become hard and difficult to dis- 

 perse. The progress of the disease is then suspended, and possibly for 

 many months the horse will appear to be restored to health ; but he bears 

 the seeds of the malady about him, and, all at once, the farcy assumes a 

 virulent form, and hurries him off. These buds have sometimes been con- 

 founded with the little tumours or lumps of surfeit. They are generally 

 higher than these tumours; — not so broad; — have a more knotty feel, 

 and are principally found on the inside of the limbs, instead of the out- 

 side. 



The increase of these buds marks the progress of the disease, and that pro- 

 gress is retarded by the resistance of these valves. The ulcers spread 

 around, and are cured with considerable difficulty. Larger tumours ap- 

 pear in the groin and between the fore-leg, and ulcerate and spread, and 

 the hollows and burrowings run deep in every direction, and the horse be- 

 comes a miserable and loathsome object. Glanders speedily appear, and 

 death ensues. 



Few things are more unlike, or more perplexing, than the different forms 

 which farcy assumes at different times. One of the legs, and particularly 

 one of the hinder-legs, will suddenly swell to an enormous size. At night 

 the horse will appear to be perfectly well, and, in the morning, one leg will 

 be three times the size of the other, with considerable fever, and scarcely 

 the power of moving the limb. 



We do not mean that enlargement of the hind leg, with red shining 

 skin, and exudation of fluid on the skin, reaching from the fetlock to the 

 heel, round and smooth, very painful, attended with extreme lameness, and 

 which the groom calls a farcy humour. This will yield to frequent fomen- 

 tation, and a good dose of physic. It is effusion of fluid beneath the skin, 

 from want of exercise and over-feeding. The enlargement of farcy occu- 

 pies more of the limb, and presents an uneven surface, with sudden projec- 

 tions and depressions, and betrays in some part the corded absorbent, and 

 the inflamed and swelled valve. 



At other times the head will be subject to this enlargement — the muzzle 

 will particularly swell, and a stinking discharge will issue from the nose. 

 Sometimes the horse will gradually lose flesh and strength ; he will be 

 hide-bound —mangy eruptions will appear in different parts ; the legs will 

 swell ; cracks will appear at the heels, and the inexperienced person may 

 conceive it to be a mere want of condition combined with grease. 



Farcy, Hke glanders, springs from infection, or from bad stable ma- 

 nagement. It is produced by all the causes which give rise to glanders ; 

 but with this difference, that it is more frequently generated, and is some- 



K. 



