2S6 
A TREATISE ON ELEPHANTS. 
scattered over the body and in the organs. The cause of the 
formation of these abscesses is as follows. In the case of many 
wounds veins are injured and this leads to the formation of blood 
clots blocking the lumen of the injured vessels. The clot may 
extend until it reaches a considerable collateral branch. The 
clot is adherent to the wall of the vessel except at its free end 
which protrudes into the blood current. Clots may soften and 
break down. Small portions are thus detached and carried by 
the circulation to distant parts. As a rule they are arrested at the 
bifurcation of vessels. At such points infective centres or foci for 
suppuration are formed. Thus, according to the seat of injury 
different organs — the lungs, liver, kidneys, spleen — may become 
the seat of numerous abscesses, which are usually small and wedge- 
shaped. Unlike septicaemia, pyoemia does not supervene till some 
days after the receipt of injury. In septic infection death occurs 
more rapidly than in the other two forms. 
Treatment : Preventive. — Is the most important and consists 
in strict attention to all kinds of wounds, however trivial, which if 
properly treated to a great extent precludes chances of infection. 
Curative. — First thing necessary is local treatment, w^hich 
consists in thoroughly cleansing with disinfectants the wound or 
wounds, and when abscesses occur freely opening them, and 
syringing the cavities out with some disinfecting solution (carbolic 
acid lotion i — 40), and see Formulae 114 to 120, and afterwards 
dressing. Soiled dressings should be treated as already noted. 
With regard to general treatment no certain remedy is known, 
but the following may prove useful. The diet must be nourishing, 
such as fresh green grass, fruits, wheaten cakes, gruels, and, though 
fever is present, rice or other grains should in these cases be 
offered, also stimulants such as rum, brandy, etc., and plenty of 
good drinking water. 
Hyposulphite of soda, or sulphite of soda in 2-oz. doses every 
three hours, or small doses of calomel, say \ drachm, repeated every 
three or four hours. Euquinine may also be tried. 
Puerperal Septicemia. 
This is an acute form of blood-poisoning following parturition, 
and is occasionally met with. The infection is due to minute 
organisms which gain entry through a wound or simple abrasion 
of the passage. 
Symptoms. — These generally set in suddenly on the second 
or third day after calving. In two cases on the second day 
