344 



indicated, tlic degree of warmth being as liigli as can be comfortably 

 borne. Tliey are of easy application, and often yield important relief in 

 a few honrs. In some cases, however, astringents are used in prefer- 

 ence, in the form of poultices or pastes, which are made to cover the 

 entire swelling and allowed to remain, drying after a short time, it is 

 true, and perhaps falling off, but easily renewed and reapplied. We 

 have often recommended for these cases (and we renew our indorse- 

 ment) a putty made of common chalk, i)owdered, and vinegar (acetate 

 of lime — an excellent astringent), and covering the whole swelling with 

 a thick coating of soft clay, made into a softish mass with water. It 

 has proved very beneficial in our experience. 



These simple remedies are often all that is required. Under their use 

 the swelling passes off by degrees and after a short interval the animal is 

 remanded to his work again. But not uncommonly, instead of this a 

 tumor or lump develops itself, puffy, not painful, and perhaps giving a 

 sensation of crepitation when pressure is made on it. It is soft and 

 evidently contains a liquid, and when freely opened, with a good-sized 

 incision, discharges a certain amount of blood, jiartly liquid and partly 

 coagulated, and perhaps a little hemorrhage will follow. The cavity 

 should then be well washed out and a tent of oakum introduced leav- 

 ing a small portion protruding through the cut to prevent it from clos- 

 ing prematurely. It may be taken off the next day, and a daily cleans- 

 ing will then be all that is necessary. In another case the tumor be- 

 comes very soft in its whole extent, with evident fluctuation and a well- 

 defined form. The discharge of the fluid is then indicated, and a free 

 incision will be followed by the escape of a quantity of thin, yellowish 

 liquid from a single sac. The irritation of the lining membrane with the 

 finger nails, and the introduction of a tent of oakum, as before, but which 

 should be changed every two or three days, during which time the parts 

 should be kept free from suppuration, will inaugurate a siieedy change 

 and recovery will soon follow. But if the cavity is found to be subdi- 

 vided in its interior by numerous bands, and the cyst proves to bemul- 

 tilocular, the partitioning sacules should be torn out with the fingers, 

 and the cavity then treated in the same manner as the single or unilocu- 

 lar sac. Another condition is that when the tumor is warm and has 

 been painful, and lias been soft and fluctuating indistinctly, or onl^^ at 

 a given point, the evidence is of an abscess again indicating the use of 

 the knife for a free incision for the exit of the contents, the general 

 and first indication in all suppurative collections. 



But cases occur when all the treatment that has been detailed has 

 failed to effect a full recovery, and, instead of closing properly, the cav- 

 ity has become the seat of granulations other than those of a healthful 

 and benign character, having assumed a new and peculiar form, and 

 appearing in that of a fibrous tumor, quite apt, if not evicted, to con- 

 stitute a mere eyesore, profitable and pleasing to no one. A change of 

 treatment is of course then in order. The inflammation, having a dis- 



