300 
THE CAUTERY AND THE SETON. 
has been the seat of some infiltration. This is arrested by intro- 
ducing a pledget of tow or amadou into the course of the setori, 
and which may be withdrawn at the expiration of a few hours. 
An Abscess is sometimes produced when the seton is not kept 
sufficiently clean. It assumes the form of a round or elongated 
tumour along the course of the seton. It usually contains a 
white and foetid purulent matter. An incision should be made 
into it with a bistoury, and the state of the part must be more 
carefully attended to. When these depots of pus are multiplied, 
and the skin becomes thin, or assumes an unhealthy character, 
the setori must be withdrawn from that place, and inserted into 
another, if the nature of the malady should still require a drain 
of this kind. 
It sometimes happens, either while the setons remain or after 
they have been withdrawn, and especially when they have been 
situated in the breast, that indurations or kinds of cords are 
formed, by means of the infiltration of the cellular texture or the 
thickening of the skin at those parts. Some veterinarians call 
them farcy cords, but somewhat erroneously. They will gene- 
rally yield to oily frictions, or at least to frictions with mercurial 
ointment, the hair being previously cut away from the part. 
The fungous growths which sometimes spring so plentifully 
from the openings that have been made in the skin should be cut 
closely off, and lightly touched with the cautery, the sores being 
afterwards dressed for some days with aegyptiacum and burnt 
alum. 
Setons, according to some authors, can scarcely ever do harm. 
Gilbert considers them, with reference to epizootic diseases, as 
the principal, and perhaps the only, recourse — medicines in these 
cases being little more than subsidiary ; nevertheless, in gastro- 
enteritis, attended by debility, the use of them is exceedingly 
dangerous. At other times it is not rare to see setons in the 
chest and the thighs producing malignant engorgements or ulcer- 
ations about the fourth or fifth day after their application. This 
is particularly the case with the dog, in whom these ulcerations 
sometimes occur without previous engorgement. 
General bleeding must be resorted to, restricted diet, and 
emollient injections, especially if the fever is considerable. The 
immediate part should be washed with warm vinegar and waiter ; 
or, if the swelling is considerable, scarifications of the part, more 
or less deep, must be effected. If these means do not presently 
succeed, the cautery with points must be applied to the skin and 
subjacent tissue. When, however, the engorgement continues to 
increase, and there is an evident emphysematous state of the sub- 
iacent and surrounding cellular tissue, and the pulse is intermit- 
