364 



cold water, and bandages will contribute to its removal. If suppuration 

 seems to be established, and the swelling assumes the character of 

 a develojiing abscess, the hot poultices of flaxseed or of boiled vege- 

 tables and the embrocations of supjiurative or sedative ointments, 

 those of basilicon, or propuleum, impregnated with preparations of 

 opium or belladonna — all these recommend themselves by their gen- 

 eral adaptation and the beneficial results which have followed their 

 administration, not less in one case than in another. When an abscess 

 has formed and is fluctuating, it should be carefully but fully opened 

 to evacuate the pus. If it is a serous cyst, some care is necessary in 

 emptying it, and the possibility of the extension of tlie inflammation 

 to the joint must be taken into consideration. \Vlien the cavities have 

 been emptied and have closed by filling up with granulations, or if, 

 not being ojiened, the contents have been reabsorbed, and there 

 remains in either case a plastic exudation and a tendency to the cal- 

 lous organization that may yet exist, blisters under their various 

 forms, including those of cantharides, of mercury, and of iodine are 

 then indicated, principally in the early stages, as it is then that their 

 effects ^^■ill i^rove most satisfactory. The use of the actual cautery, 

 with fine points, penetrating deeply througliout the enlargement, has 

 in our hands, when employed in the very early stages of its formation, 

 nearl}^ always brought on a radical recovery with complete absorj)tion 

 of the thickening. 



StringhaU. — The characteristic symptom, if not in fact the sum of 

 the symptomatology of this disease, is the spasmodic flexion, more or 

 less violent, of the hock, sometimes to the extent of striking the abdo- 

 men with the fetlock of the affected leg, and at others only sufiicient 

 to lift it a few inches from the ground, but always with the same sud- 

 den, uncontrollable jerk. The habit is unaffected by the gait of the 

 animal, and whether trotting, walking, or merely turning around, it 

 is all the same. It does not seem to be influenced by the horse's age, 

 young and old being alike affected. Its first manifestations are some- 

 times very slight. It has been noticed as occurring to an animal when 

 backing out of his stable and ceasing immediately after. In some 

 animals it is best seen when the animal is turning around on the 

 affected leg, and is not noticed when he moves straight forward. 

 That this peculiar action interferes with facility of locomotion and 

 detracts from a horse's claim to soundness can not for a moment be 

 denied. 



Veterinarians and joathologists are yet in doubt in respect to the 

 cause of this affection, as well as to its essential nature. Whether it 

 results from disease of the hock, of an ulcerative character; whether 

 it springs from a malformation; whether it is purely a muscular or 

 purely a nervous lesion, or a compound of both, it still continues, if 

 an etiologist is bound to possess universal knowledge witliin the scope 

 of his special studies, to be his opprobrium and his puzzle. 



