CHAPTEE XV. 



DISEASES OF THE WITHERS. 



The withers is the region of the body which, of all others, is 

 most exposed to lesion, the injuries to which it is subject being of 

 every form, natiire and degree of severity. From its very loca- 

 tion it is especially liable to all kinds of external traumatisms, and 

 is peculiarly apt to suffer from blows, bruises, bites, contusions, 

 pressures and frictions by the harness, etc., and these give origin 

 to bloody or serous tumors ; cold and warm oedemas, abscesses , 

 superficial or deep, and various wounds of the surface, with or 

 without injuries of the subjacent tissues ; and these again may be 

 followed by necrosis of the dorso-cervical ligament, and of the 

 apex of the dorsal vertebrae, accompanied with purulent filtrations, 

 in various localities, the formation of fistulous tracts, and possibly 

 the extension of the diseased conditions to the ligamentum nuchse, 

 ending with the disease of the neck, with all its unfortunate 

 sequelae. 



With the consideration of such a multiplicity of pathological 

 evils before us, an orderly and systematic arrangement of topics 

 is especially necessary, and we shall, therefore, in our treatment 

 of the diseases of the withers, adopt the classification of Bouley 

 and Nocard. And this introduces us successively to the study 

 of excoriations, oedemas, hematoma, core or stickfasts, cysts, 

 abscesses, wounds, and the " diseased withers " proper, or what is 

 generally understood as "the persisting lesion, fistulous in its 

 character, and whose condition of formation and duration is 

 due to the mortification of the fibrous, yellow or cartilaginous 

 tissue of the apex of the spinous processes of the anterior dorsal 

 vertebrae." 



Considered from an anatomical point of view, the withers form 

 a very complex region. Its skeleton is formed by the superior 

 spinous processes of the anterior dorsal vertebrae, and it is sur- 

 rounded by muscles arranged in layers, intersected by fibrous 



