FARCY. 983 
It is true the disease can be communicated by inoculation. But that 
source of farcy is of very small importance. Not one case in a thousand 
thus originates. Farcy is essentially a skin disease. It commences with 
specific inflammation of the superficial absorbents. 
This inflammation leads to suppuration and to ul- 
ceration. Abscesses first appear. They may come 
on any part of the body. They seem to be, in the 
primary instance, lumps or hard enlargements. 
Something of the annexed form is first observed. 
There may be one of these, or there may be many. 
Ultimately they burst or are opened. Apparently 
healthy matter then issues from the interior. But 
the first discharge being released, the wound does A FARCY BUD. 
not heal. The edges grow rough, the center of 
the sore becomes pale, and moistened by a thin, semi-transparent fluid. 
Then, if the neighborhood of the sore be felt, cords, more or less thin, 
will be discovered running from it toward some other lumps on the 
body. 
Such is the distinguishing sign by which to recognize farcy. Lumps 
appear, which prove to be abscesses. They, after discharging, do not 
heal; they become ulcers. From them run certain cords, which are the 
swollen lymphatic or absorbents. Till the enlargement of the absorbents 
is discerned, a man, from the other signs, may suspect, but he cannot 
pronounce with certainty, the disease to be farcy. 
If a recent case of farcy be slaughtered and dissected, the affection 
appears to go no deeper than the skin. The cellular tissue will exhibit 
indications of dropsy, which invariably is present. The muscles will be 
pallid and flabby, suggesting bodily debility; but, to most observers, 
such signs will be all that is discernible. 
Is farcy, then, strictly, a local disorder? Can such be asserted of a 
malady which appears to beso constitutional in its origin? Is there 
nothing continuous with the skin? Yes, there is. Intimately connected 
with the outward covering of the body, imperceptibly blending with it, 
and capable, after exposure, of assuming its appearance, is the mucous 
membrane. Mucous membrane lines the interior of the body, and is 
very abundantly supplied with absorbents. The French, who are far 
more minute observers and more accomplished dissectors than the gen- 
erality of English surgeons, have, in cases of farcy, detected signs which 
assure us the disease is not strictly an external affection. It has an 
internal and a deep-seated origin, as is evidenced by the discovery of a 
few tubercles upon the mucous membrane of the interior. 
The course of the disease would likewise teach us to arrive at this 
