56 THEORY AND PRACTICE 



tion (bichloride 1-500) first and then use a bichloride solution 

 1-1000 until the abscess is clean. Soak a pledget of oakum in 

 the bichloride solution and insert into the cavity, allowing it to 

 protrude a little, and then put a hot linseed poultice over the 

 place, mixing with the meal a little of a 5 per cent solution of 

 carbolic acid. This poultice will reduce the inflammation 

 quickly. Dress night and morning until the discharge has ceased, 

 then stop the packing, smear the surface with vaseline, and put 

 on a flannel hood to keep the parts warm. In about a week 

 the horse can go to work. 



Occasionally you may have a hemorrhage. Do not stop 

 operating, but go on quickly and finish ; then pack the cavity 

 fuller than you otherwise would, and take a stitch or two in the 

 skin to keep the oakum in. Do not dress for 24 hours and the 

 cut vessel will have ceased to bleed. 



Post-pharyngeal abscesses are treated in the same way. 



DIPHTHERIA. 



In the human, diphtheria is a specific inflammation of the 

 throat with the formation of a false membrane. It is a consti- 

 tutional disease of the exogenous type. The diagnosis is made 

 by making a microscopical examination of the scrapings from 

 the throat, in which will be found the bacillus of diphtheria. 



Treatment. — This consists in the administering of anti-diph- 

 theritic, serum. The serum is obtained from horses that have 

 been inoculated with cultures of the bacillus until no febrile reac- 

 tion follows. The neck is washed and shaved, and the jugular 

 is tapped, and the blood is drawn off into a sterile vessel. After 

 the blood has clotted, the serum is removed and treated in some 

 way to prevent decomposition, and then is put up in sealed cases 

 for distribution. 



The horse is used for this work because he is especially 

 healthy and his tissues are good culture media for the germs. 

 He is only used once for this purpose and is then sold. 



There is no disease among the lower animals corresponding 

 to diphtheria in the human. 



