30 The Farmer''s Veterinary Adviser. 



cacy of the skin, and should never exceed a fraction of a 

 second. But it is only in the greatest extremity that the 

 stock-owner should himself undertake such an operation, so 

 that any lengthened description is superfluous. 



Abscess. The treatment of abscess consists in warm poul- 

 tices (flax-seed meal, wheat-bran, boiled carrots) or fomenta- 

 tions in the early stages, to hasten and perfect suppuration, 

 and thus to dispose of the superfluous and injurious consol- 

 idated lymph, and prevent the threatened destruction of 

 tissue. The poultices should be put on warm (about 100° F.) 

 and replaced by fresh ones when they have become soured 

 or dry. Poulticing should be kept up without intermission 

 till the hard inflamed mass has become soft and fluctuating 

 in the centre, and, indeed, until this liquefaction has ex- 

 tended throughout its whole substance. If the abscess is 

 deeply seated, it may be desirable to continue it until the 

 superincumbent layers of tissue have become absorbed and 

 the pus is felt to be separated from the air only by an atten- 

 uated layer of skin. Then it is opened with a lancet or 

 sharp knife inserted in the centre of the thinnest part, where 

 the pressure of the advancing pus has pushed all impor- 

 tant structures aside, so that incision is made practically 

 without danger. The opening should be large, so that the 

 finger, previously dipped in a carbolic-acid solution (1 : 50) or 

 carbolated vaseline (1 : 20), may be introduced and its ex- 

 tent ascertained. Usually the opening will be sufficiently 

 low to secure a constant and free drainage of all pus subse- 

 quently formed from the walls of the abscess. If, however, 

 sacs exist beneath the level of the opening in which the pus 

 must collect, then the incision must be extended in a down- 

 ward direction until it will drain such sac or sacs. If this 

 would produce too large a wound, then a counter-opening 

 should be made leading downward and outward from the 

 lowest part of the sac. For this purpose a curved staff is 

 carried to the lowest part of the abscess, and pressed out- 



