104 VETERINARY SURGICAL THERAPEUTICS. 
suppuration, can be overcome. By tepid antiseptic compresses, warny 
baths, emollient and analgesical preparations—if pain is great, scari- 
fications made with care—sometimes the metamorphosis of the phleg- 
mon into an abscess may be avoided ; but this is only in a limited num- 
ber of cases. When the phlegmasia is of an infectious nature, the 
abortive treatment almost always fails. When once the pyogenic 
microbes have collected in a mass in the inflamed tissues, suppuration: 
is scarcely avoidable. In days past, the absorption of the pus of 
recent abscesses of small dimensions was often attempted, by making, 
upon the region where the purulent collections existed, repeated applica- 
tions of camphorated ointment. This treatment was sometimes success- 
ful in the case of man (Velpeau says he used it with advantage) ; but 
the cases where it proved successful were exceptional. This method is. 
now abandoned. 
In order to make the pyogeny active to reduce to a minimum the 
duration of purulent infiltration, and to precipitate the formation of the 
abscess, sometimes emollients, sometimes vesicating agents, are used. 
In general, as soon as the inflamed tissue suppurates, the pain resulting 
from the inflammation diminishes ; if it continues sharp, one may, in 
the case of irritable subjects, continue the measures prescribed for acute 
inflammation. For a long time, the ointments of poplar, belladona, 
camphor, and the camphorated and opiated oils were the most generally 
used agents; many veterinarians employ them still. Emollient and 
analgesical preparations made with vaseline begin to be preferred now. 
When the region permits it, warm baths give the best results, especially: 
in the treatment of phlegmons of the extremities. 
The systematic use of vesicating agents to accelerate the formation 
of a pyogenic group is an essentially veterinary measure. These agents 
excite the inflammation, accelerate the purulent degeneration of the 
tissue ; and the time when the abscess is ready to be opened, as well 
as that when the animal can be returned to work, is shortened. 
The abcess is formed; evident fluctuation proves it. Must it be 
opened immediately in all cases, or must one wait for its spontaneous 
opening? Superficial abscesses, it has been advised, should be left to 
themselves, and in general, those whose pus may easily progress 
towards the skin. But this waiting has its inconveniences; it delays. 
recovery, carries with it a cutaneous necrosis more or less extensive, and. 
is not free from serious dangers. Abscesses formed in the neighborhood. 
of articulations or of tendinous sheaths may open in those cavities ; those: 
of prepectoral glands and of the thoracic walls, in the pleura; those 
of the abdominal walls, in the peritoneum, Our publications contain 
numerous examples of fatal accidents thus produced. Therefore, at: 
present, the puncture of an abscess is the absolute rule. 
