150 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 



bacteria, or as the result of premature closure of the wound, and 

 imprisonment of matter. 



Pure air and cleanliness of groin and wound are to be secured. 

 Antiseptics, like the mercuric chloride lotion (1 part to 2,000) are to 

 be applied to the parts; the wound, if closed, is to be opened anew, 

 any accumulated matter or blood washed out, and the antiseptic 

 liquid freely applied. The most tense or dependent parts of the 

 swelling in sheath or penis, or beneath the belly, should be pricked at 

 intervals of 3 or 4 inches, and to a depth of half an inch, and anti- 

 septics freely used to the surface. Fomentations with warm water 

 may also be used to favor oozing from the incisions and to encourage 

 the formation of Avhite matter in the original wounds, which must not 

 be allowed to close again at once. A free, creamlike discharge im- 

 plies a healthy action in the sore, and is the precursor of recovery. 



PHYMOSIS AND PARAPHYMOSIS. 



In cases of swelling, as above, the penis may be imprisoned within 

 the sheath (phymosis) or protruded and swollen so that it can not be 

 retracted into it (paraphymosis). In these cases the treatment indi- 

 cated above, and especially the scarifications, will prove a useful pre- 

 liminary resort. The use of astringent lotions is always desirable, 

 and in case of the protruded penis the application of an elastic or 

 simple linen bandage, so as to press out the blood and accumulated 

 fluid, will enable the operator to return it. 



TUMORS ON THE SPERMATIC CORD. 



These are due to rough handling or dragging upon the cord in 

 castration, to strangulation of unduly long cords in the external 

 wound, to adhesion of the end of the cord to the skin, to inflammation 

 of the cord succeeding exposure to cold or wet, or to the presence 

 of infection {Staphylococcus hotriomyces) . These tumors give rise 

 to a stiff, straddling gait, and may be felt as hard masses in the groin 

 connected above with the cord. They may continue to grow slowly 

 for many years until they reach a weight of 15 or 20 pounds, and 

 contract adhesions to all surrounding parts. If disconnected from 

 the skin and inguinal canal they may be removed in the same manner 

 as the testicle, while if larger and firmly adherent to the skin and 

 surrounding parts generally, they must be carefully dissected from 

 the parts, the arteries being tied as they are reached and the cord 

 finally torn through with an ecraseur. When the cord has become 

 swollen and indurated up into the abdomen such removal is impos- 

 sible, though a partial destruction of the mass may still be attempted 

 by passing white-hot pointed irons upward toward the inguinal ring 

 in the center of the thickened and indurated cord. 



