518 PRINCIPLES OF VETERINARY SURGERY 



ployed to kill the parasites of vegetables. Its potency against algae and the low 

 forms of vegetable life is no longer a matter of doubt. With this fact as a 

 basis Bevan (Chicago) employed it on a number of cases of "internal actino- 

 mycosis" that had proven refractory to the combined use of iodide of ■potas- 

 sium and the X-ray, and the results obtained seem to correspond with the 

 high potency of the chemical against exogenous parasites. The drug is used 

 both internally and as an irrigation of the fistulae of the neoplasms, and 

 may be used in addition to the iodide treatment. The fact that the iodide 

 treatment is most effectual when used at regular intervals* leaves room for 

 the administration of the copper salt between these intervals. The adminis- 

 tration of liberal doses of potassium for three or four days, followed during 

 the next three or four days by doses of copper sulphate, should, from this 

 reasoning, constitute the appropriate internal medication for the non-oper- 

 able actinomycostic lesions. In the superficial localizations the copper salt 

 in solution is applied alike in the surgical wound following ablation or in- 

 cision of the tumor as in the fistulae of the non-operable variety. — L. A. M. 



BOTRYOMYCOSIS. 



DEFINITION. — Botryomycdsis is a parasitic disease 

 caused by a fungus belonging to the genus botryomyces, and 

 described by the name "botryomyces equi." It resembles 

 actinomycosis in its clinical aspect and in the character of the 

 parasite. 



HISTORY. — The knowledge of the disease is of recent 

 date and the credit of having determined its nature is due to 

 German and Italian authors. 1879, Rivolta discovered the 

 presence of the fungus in the spermatic cord. The observa- 

 tions of Johne, Semmer, and Rabe directed attention to this 

 new mycosis. In 1884, Rivolta, while pursuing his investi- 

 gations, gave a complete description of the fungus, under the 

 name of dyscomyces. Rabe, in 1886, called it the micrococcus 

 botryogenus, and Johne, the micrococcus ascofomians. The 

 latter named the tumor in which the fungus is found, myco- 

 fibroma equi. Bollinger named the disease botryomycosis. 



Although observed for a long time in Germany and Italy 

 alone, botryomycosis was noticed for the first time in France 

 by Soula, in 1887. Since that time a considerable number of 

 publications have mentioned its existence in our country. 



SUSCEPTIBLE ANIMALS.— Although chiefly ob- 



