56 Stable Management and the Prevention of Disease 



No distinct proof was ever obtained that the disease is 

 hereditary, though some considered it to be so. 



I believe that the best method of treatment is to carefully 

 extract with knife and forceps every particle of kankar that 

 can be taken hold of, and then to destroy with caustic all the 

 surface of the sore, because small atoms of kankar, which 

 are too small to be readily seen or seized with a forceps, are 

 usually embedded in the tissues. When the slough comes off, 

 treat the wound with dressings of carbolic acid and oil. Some 

 practitioners recommend eradicating the whole diseased mass 

 with caustic instead of knife. This system seems to me less 

 efficacious, because the caustic, to effect its purpose thoroughly, 

 must be so severe that there is a chance of its destroying 

 some of the healthy tissues under the sore, while it may 

 leave untouched small pieces of kankar some distance within 

 the edges of the skin. With knife and forceps all the kankar 

 except the minutest portions can be extracted readily, and 

 the latter can be reached with ease and certainty without risk 

 of hurting the healthy tissues, and without putting the patient 

 to unnecessary pain. Many internal remedies have been 

 tried, such as preparations of mercury, arsenic, copper, iodine, 

 and iron, but it is doubtful if they are of the slightest use. 



When examining horses for soundness in India, the scars 

 of wounds should be carefully inspected. If any hard lumps 

 can be felt under the skin, they are probably pieces of kankar, 

 and the horse should be rejected as unsound. 



At some stations unhealthy sores resembling barsati in some 

 degree appear on the lips of horses early in the hot season. 

 The granulations are of a dark colour, and covered in places 

 with small white particles like kankar, which can be scraped 

 away with the finger. The sores are seldom larger than a 

 shilling, and after attaining that size they rarely increase. 

 Their chief peculiarity is that nothing in the way of treat- 

 ment seems to affect them. They remain about the same 

 size^ neither getting better nor worse, in spite of cauterization, 

 carbolic acid, or any of the usual applications for wounds and 

 ulcers. At the end of a few weeks — perhaps four or five — 

 they rapidly heal, whether treated or left alone. 



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