ABSCESS. 77 



practicable, the free escape of pus should be provided for, by 

 opening out the wound, or passing a t^eton through it. The part 

 should be liberally bathed with a warm • antiseptic solution. 



If a scab which has formed over a sore be wounded, becomes loose 

 before healing is complete, or fluctuation can be detected under it, 

 it should be removed by poultices, or bathing in warm water, to 

 allow the escape of pus, and the exposed surface should be treated 

 with tannoform, iodoform, or some other suitable antiseptic. But 

 if the wound under the scab be healthy, it should on no account be 

 interfered with. 



In the early stages of bruises, massage will often (p. 675) cause 

 absorption of the fluid which gives rise to the swelling, and thus 

 arrest the formation of pus. If suppuration has already set in, 

 the knife must be used to give vent to the pus without delay ; for 

 the longer it remains, the greater will be the destruction of the 

 healthy tissue, which can never be replaced except by grafting, a 

 difficult operation to perform successfully in the horse. Poultices 

 should only be applied when the exact position of the pus is 

 doubtful. That being determined, the knife should be used. 



If the injury be accompanied by sympathetic fever, or if the 

 horse be in gross condition, he should be put on bran mashes, and 

 given a dose of aloes or Epsom salts. But if he is in a debilitated 

 state, his strength should be kept up by liberal feeding. 



Abscess. 



DEFINITION. — ^An abscess is a collection of pus (p. 15) 

 enclosed within some portion of the body. 



VARIETIES. — ^Abscesses may be divided into two kinds : acute, 

 in which the inflammation is actively and manifestly at work ; and 

 chronic, in which the process of the formation of pus proceeds 

 slowly and without marked symptoms of heat and tenderness, as 

 in " bastard strangles " (p. 455). 



The pus in an abscess may become circumscribed in a sac, or 

 spread indefinitely, rmtil it gains an exit, or meets with some 

 effective barrier. The collection of pus is said to be either a 

 circumscribed or a diffuse abscess. An abscess may also become 

 checked in its development or dry up, and after undergoing 

 degeneration, become more or less absorbed without further 

 trouble. 



I shall allude later on (" pyaemia,'' p. 516) to the constitutional 

 disturbance caused by the absorption of pus, or the products of pus 

 cells, into the circulation. 



