362 PRINCIPLES OF VETERINARY SURGERY 



The soft variety, on the contrary, have a thin wall and 

 the pyogenic cavity is very large and filled with a serous pus 

 that is deficient in formative elements. 



TREATMENT. — Here, as in the hot abscess, it is indis- 

 pensable to provoke the elimination of the pus. This is some- 

 times obtained by reviving the inflammatory phenomena in 

 the hard abscess by the irritating effects of a blister of bin- 

 iodide of mercury. Usually these expedients end in noth- 

 ing and the case will require lancing with the bistoury or 

 cautery. 



Tapping with the bistoury is often without resu'ts in 

 cases where the purulent center, very slightly developed, 

 is composed of cheesy pus. In this event it is necessary to 

 plunge the bistoiuy several times into the fibrous tumor. 

 T?ie inflammation resulting from this operation may break 

 up the purulent center and liquefy it. 



Tapping with the cautery is more frequently resorted to 

 than the preceding method; it may, in fact, while provoking 

 the elimination of the pus, hasten the disappearance of the 

 inflammatory tumor. 



In some rare cases these two methods of intervention 

 are of no avail. Bayer and Langzillotti recommend that un- 

 der such circumstances three deep incisions should be made 

 in the wall of the tumor. In each of these incisions a drain 

 is inserted and kept in place by a suture. The cavity of the 

 abscess is each clay cleansed with a solution of mercuric 

 chloride. At the end of two weeks the drains are removed, 

 and the cure is generally complete in from twenty-five to 

 thirty days. Finally there are some cases in which the ex- 

 tirpation of the abscess is the only proper means of interven- 

 tion. This operation, which was greatly in vogue some years 

 ago in Germany, does not always yield the desired results. 

 The part operated upon often remains painful and the op- 



