550 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 



circulation and the effects of exterior irritants. For example, if a 

 horse which has been so slightly affected with the virus of glanders 

 that no symptoms are visible is exposed to cold, rain, or sleet, or by 

 the rubbing of the harness on the body and the irritation of mud on 

 the legs, the disease is liable to develop on the exterior in the form of 

 farcy, while a full-blooded horse which is employed at speed and has 

 its lungs and respiratory tract gorged with blood from the extreme 

 use of these organs will develop glanders as the local manifestation 

 of the disease in the respiratory tract. 



The previous reference to the existence of glanders under the two 

 forms more commonly differentiated as glanders and as farcy, and 

 our reference to the various conditions in which it may exist as acute, 

 chronic, and latent, show that the disease may assume several differ- 

 ent phases. Without for a moment losing sight of the fact that all 

 these varied conditions are identical in their origin and in their es- 

 sence, for convenience of study we may divide glanders into three 

 classes — chronic farcy, chronic glanders, and acute glanders with or 

 without farcy. 



CHRONIC FAKCY. 



Symptoms. — In farcy the symptoms commence by formation of 

 little nodes on the under surface of the skin, which rapidly infringe 

 on the tissues of the skin itself. These nodes, which are known as 

 farcy " buds " and farcy " buttons," are from the size of a bullet to 

 the size of a walnut. They are hot, sensitive to the touch, at first 

 elastic and afterwards become soft; the tissue is destroyed, and in- 

 fringing on the substance of the sldn the disease produces an ulcer, 

 which is known as a chancre. This ulcer is irregular in shape, with 

 ragged edges which overhang the sore ; it has a gray, dirty bottom and 

 the discharge is sometimes thin and sometimes purulent; in either 

 case it is mixed with a viscous, sticky, yellowish material like the 

 white of an egg in consistency and like olive oil in appearance. The 

 discharge is almost diagnostic; it resembles, some what the discharge 

 which we have in greasy heels and in certain attacks of lymphangitis, 

 but to the expert the specific discharge is characteristic. The dis- 

 charge accumulates on the hair surrounding the ulcer and over its 

 surface and dries, forming scabs which become thicker by successive 

 deposits on the under surface until they fall off, to be replaced by 

 others of the same kind ; and the excess of discharge may drop on 

 the hairs below and form similar brownish yellow crusts. The farcy 

 ulcers may retain their specific form for a considerable time — days 

 or even weeks— but eventually the discharge becomes purulent in 

 character and assumes the appearance of healthy matter. The sur- 

 face of the gangrenous bottom of the ulcer is replaced by rosy granu- 



