COtlvECTlONS OF PUS IN THE GUTTURAI, POUCHES. 



Structure, position and opening of pouches, inflamed by extension. 

 Symptoms, discharge intermittent with pendent head, swallowing, pastur- 

 ing, cough, roaring, dyspnoea, inhalation of food, parotid swelling, glandu- 

 lar enlargement. Nature of contents. Treatment, pasturage, blister, ton- 

 ics, irrigation, puncture, injection. 



Though this is commonly a result of severe sore throat or 

 strangles, yet as it causes a chronic discharge from the nose liable 

 to be confounded with those properly due to diseases of the nasal 

 chamber, it is noticed in this place. 



The guttural pouches are two mucous sacs peculiar to solid 

 footed animals. They lie side by side above the throat, and in 

 direct contact with the lower surface of the superior bones of the 

 head and the first bone of the neck. They are properly speaking 

 dilatations of the Eustachian tubes which in all animals establish a 

 communication between the pharynx and the middle ear. 

 The opening into the pharynx is at the anterior extremity of the 

 pouch and close to the posterior opening of the nostril, hence the 

 discharge takes place chiefly or exclusively when the head is 

 lowered, since gravitation then favors the escape of the fluid. 



Frequently implicated in severe sorethroat the walls of the gut- 

 tural pouches pour out pus as readily as other mucous membranes 

 in a state of inflammation. As the escape of this product is hin- 

 dered alike by the narrowness of the orifice and, in the elevated 

 position of the head, by gravitation, it frequently becomes im- 

 prisoned and inspissated and proves a permanent source of irrita- 

 tion and discharge. In the early stages the contents are glairy 

 with whitish or yellowish clots ; later they are creamy, caseous 

 or even cretaceous. The mucosa, at first red, congested and tume- 

 fied, becomes in chronic cases, hard, thick, puckered and adher- 

 ent to adjacent structures. It sometimes ulcerates and the con- 

 tents escape in mass, through the pharynx and nose, or externally 

 behind the angle of the lower jaw. In the last case water swal- 

 lowed may escape through the opening. More commonly the 

 pus remains pent up, and thickens, and may dry and roll into 

 round or oval pellets from the movements of deglutition. The dis- 



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