DISEASES OF HORSES AND CATTLE. 277 



matter forms by the breaking down of the tissue 

 in the direction in which it is injured. The idea 

 that it is necessary to have a depending opening 

 for the escape of the matter is a mistake, I have 

 proved to my own satisfaction that healthy pus 

 does not prevent a wound in any part of the body 

 from healing. Fistula is considered a very trouble- 

 some disease to treat; but since I have adopted a 

 method first introduced by my late brother, Dr. 

 James Mcintosh, I have had no difficulty in curing 

 it. I have treated fifty-four cases of it at the free 

 clinic at the University of Illinois and all were 

 cured. A number of these were of two and three 

 years' standing and had been treated in the old 

 way by the use of the knife. After experimenting 

 for several years on this disease by the use of the 

 knife and various caustic medicines, my brother 

 adopted the following treatment: Examine the 

 opening with a probe to find the direction and 

 depth, and at the same time ascertain if there is 

 any foreign substance in it, such as a fragment of 

 bone from the spine of the vertebra or disease of 

 same. When satisfied that there is none (or if 

 there should be remove it), then take a strip of soft 

 muslin and dip it in terchloride of antimony and 

 press it into the opening, then draw it out again 

 and put in another. Let the last remain in for 

 some hours; then draw it out, let it alone for three 

 days, then repeat. If there is more than one open- 

 ing serve the others in the same way. On the third 

 or fourth day repeat, and so on for three or four 

 weeks until all the unhealthy tissue is destroyed, 



