HYGROMAS—BURSITIS. 249 
According to the intensity of the local phenomena hygromas are acute 
or chronic. In acute hygromas the tumor is warm, painful, cedematous or 
fluctuating. The contents vary with the acuteness of the inflammation: 
although generally serous and mixed with fibrinous clots, it may be hemor- 
rhagic or purulent. 
The therapeutics consist in reducing the inflammatory symptoms and 
preventing suppuration. If the tumor is recent it may disappear by 
the simple removal of the cause. Refrigeration at the beginning and later 
balneation or tepid antiseptic lotions are the best means to use: IE 
rheumatismal diathesis, is suspected salicylate of soda is to be prescribed. 
With such treatment suppuration is prevented and either resolution takes 
place or the hygroma becomes chronic. When suppuration occurs, free or 
counter-openings should be made to allow the escape of the pus. An- 
tiseptic irrigations followed by the application of a dressing or of absorb- 
ing powders complete the treatment. Sometimes there remains a fistula 
of difficult cicatrization. . 
Chronic hygromas are commonly seen in horses and in cattle, with 
which they are accidents of daily occurrence: the elbow, poll, withers and 
point of the hock furnish frequent examples of them. Sometimes they 
follow acute hygromas; at others they gradually develop under the in- 
fluence of slight but continued irritation. Their wall, first soft, becomes 
indurated or even calcareous. Sometimes they have but one cavity, at 
others they have several distinct or communicating chambers. Their 
internal wall is smooth at the beginning; later it sometimes has false 
membranes or vegetations (proliferans hygroma). These membranes, 
which are loose, form small foreign bodies called riziform* grains. The 
contents of chronic hygroma is a viscous, clear or hematic serosity, with, 
perhaps,fibrinous clots or calcareous concretions. 
The walls of the pouch may indurate (vows hygroma) and form almost 
the entirety of the growth; then there is scarcely a small cavity full of 
fluid, in the center of the mass. In cattle, some hygromas reach enormous 
proportions and are covered with large horny growths. 
In the treatment of chronic hygromas, one must, before everything 
else, remove the cause of the trouble: to remove the frictions and the 
rubbings that keep up the irritation is an indispensable condition. Cura- 
tive means vary with the age of the lesion. If the inflammatory symptoms 
are quite severe, if there is lameness, rest is to be prescribed. At the 
outset, astringent lotions, the traditional mixture of vinegar and coment 
chalk, may prove sufficient. Delwart has recommended the mixture of 
clay, vinegar, and sulphate of iron. Weber advises the following mixture; 
t Rice-formed, 
