Collections of Pus in the Guttural Pouches. 97 



Puncture of the pouch at its lower part is a very simple opera- 

 tion when the accumulation of pus is abundant and chronic. 

 The distended pouch gravitates downward largely separating the 

 parotid from the deeper vessels and nerves, and finally fluctuates 

 toward the lower end of the gland. In extreme cases it even 

 opens and discharges. When fluctuation can be felt the sac may 

 be incised with a bistuory or abscess knife and treated like a com- 

 mon sore. Opening with a pointed or olive-shaped cautery has 

 the advantage of checking haemorrhage and securing more per- 

 fect drainage. When there is no fluctuation the incision must be 

 made just beneath the lower border of the parotid, the parotido- 

 auricularis being first cut through, then the gland dissected from 

 the deeper parts when the distended sac can usually be felt and 

 opened. If not felt at once it can easily be reached by a careful 

 dissection upward through the loose subparotidean connective 

 tissue, with the finger nail or handle of the scalpel. A free open- 

 ing may be made and the wound injected daily with a weak 

 antiseptic solution. 



ABSCESS OF THB FAl^SK NOSTRIL. 



In young horses as the result of injury from the bridle or 

 severe coryza, a circumscribed swelling sometimes appears on the 

 outer flap of the nostril, at first firm, hot and tender, with a sur- 

 rounding pasty infiltration, then forming into a tense elastic 

 ovoid mass, the size of a pigeon's or chicken's egg. It may be- 

 come chronic and remain for an indefinite period comparatively 

 insensible to touch and only slightly interfering with the move- 

 ments of the nostrils. As soon as the elastic tension betrays the 

 presence of pus it should be evacuated by a free incision made 

 from inside the nostrils and the wound plugged with medicated 

 tow and allowed to heal by granulation. 



