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 FARCY. 
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 skin 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 somewhat 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- 
