Re- opening of the Urachus 823 



the citrate and prevent coagulation. When used subcutane- 

 ously, it should! be injected along the sides of the neck or 

 chest, about 50 cc. at a given point. For subcutaneous use, 

 Forssell states that the mixture of the sodium citrate is not 

 absolutely essential. If one needle is in the vein of the dam 

 and a second needle is already in place for the subcutaneous 

 injection, the blood may be drawn into the syringe and 

 quickly injected. The needle in the foal is then moved to 

 another point and the syringe again filled. The syringe must 

 be kept warm with hot water. When using the non-coagu- 

 lated blood, it should be kept at body temperature by im- 

 mersing the container in warm water. The intravenous in- 

 jection must be made very slowly. 



Forssell reports 157 cases handled with the dam's blood or 

 blood serum, with recoveries in 127 — 81 per cent. Many of 

 those which died were in a critical condition when the 

 handling was begun, and more would probably have recov- 

 ered had the application been made earlier. 



Forssell believes that the ideal plan would be to prepare a 

 stock serum from the bacteria recognized in arthritis which 

 could be conveniently and promptly given the foal. The ob- 

 jection exists, however, that the bacteria of foal septicemia, 

 pyemia, arthritis and dysentery may vary widely, and that 

 any stock serum may fail to contain the antibodies for the 

 infection causing disease in a given foal. On the other hand 

 it is to be remembered that, so far as known at present, the 

 bacteria causing the infections in new-born foals (except 

 such specific forms as tetanus bacilli when invading the 

 navel) including the B. abortivo-equinus, are identical with, 

 or analogous to the common wound infections, and that 

 many, perhaps most of them, are normal habitants of the 

 adult body, either in the alimentary tract, in the udder, or 

 in the genital organs. Consequently the blood of an adult 

 horse may, and perhaps does, contain a long list of anti- 

 bodies which confer upon the animal a degree of resistance 

 to the entire bacterial group involved — age resistance. In 

 discussing calf scours serum, it was noted that there is much 

 evidence tending to show that normal horse serum possesses 



