ABSCESS. 103! 
recognized that the products of the secretions of the germs of pus are 
themselves phlogogenic and pyogenic. Arloing has observed that the 
‘toxines, elaborated by the staphylococcus aureus, produce an active 
cellular hyperplasia, the rapid death of the newly formed cells, a disso- 
lution of the intercellular substance, and, by reflex action, a vaso-dila- 
‘tation which accelerates the diapedesis. Then, in last consideration the 
‘microbes of suppuration would stimulate it by the pyogenic substances 
that they produce, and suppuration would be but the effect of a re- 
caction of the tissues against some irritating substance, whether produced 
sby living beings or others of a purely chemical nature. 
But, interesting as those data of experimentation are, they are not to 
be taken into consideration from a practical point of view. All sup- 
purative inflammation that we meet with among our patients, is to be re- 
:garded as microbic ; all is to be considered as the result of an infec- 
‘tious process. 
In general, phlegmons are isolated occurrences, with a more or less 
rapid development ; it is not, however, rare to observe several simul- 
‘taneously on the same subject, either in the same, or in different re- 
gions. We have seen on one leg of a horse or of a dog, numerous 
‘cutaneous and sub-cutaneous abscesses, brought on by the two staphy- 
lococci. Eberhart has described a kind of “ phlegmonous diathesis,” 
which, in one case of a horse, was manifested for seven months by 
-abscesses on the four extremities. Hiibner treated a horse upon which, 
‘inthe course of two months, 250 abcesses appeared ; some of these were 
‘the size of a child’s head. 
Whether the development of the abscesses be quick or slow, whether 
the local phlegmasic phenomena be slightly marked or acute and gener- 
ally disturbing, the signs obtained by the explorating puncture of a 
‘tumour rarely leave room for a doubtful diagnosis. In doubtful cases, 
that of an abscess of the thoracic or of the abdominal walls, or of 
‘deep abscesses of the neck and extremities, the nature of the diagnosis 
must be at once established by a probing aseptically performed. 
An antiseptic treatment of any traumatism is the surest way to avoid 
cabscesses. During winter and rainy seasons, wounds of the lower 
parts of the extremities, soiled with mud, are often complicated by 
gangrenous phlegmons. These can be prevented by disinfecting the 
wounds and covering them afterward with a dressing, or with a coat of 
“oil of cade or of tar. (Moller.) 
Let us first consider the indications of the therapeutics of waRM 
ABSCESSES. 
We have seen the means by which acute inflammation, threatening 
