ON FARCY. 
267 
The neighbouring Absorbents first affected. —The absorbents 
in the neighbourhood of the inflamed and ulcerated surface are 
first affected. I have said in a former lecture, that the very 
chancres run in lines, indicating the path of the absorbents, and 
in fact being ulcerations of them. The effect is next perceived 
about the lips and face and neck. 
The Valves of the Absorbents. —The absorbents, as well as the 
veins, are under the influence of the muscles; the contents of 
these little vessels are, partly or principally, propelled by the 
action of the muscles ; and therefore the mechanism which is de¬ 
tected in the veins becomes necessary here, that when these 
vessels are compressed by the muscles, the fluid shall pass in the 
right direction, and not pursue a retrograde course. Valves, 
loose duplicatures of the lining membrane, are placed, as you 
will see in these specimens, at certain distances, which lie flat 
on the side of the vessel, and permit the fluid to pass in a direc¬ 
tion towards the chest, but belly out, and impede or arrest its 
progress from the chest. 
They become inf anted and ulcerated. —Whether the virus re¬ 
tains its sticky character as it travels along the absorbent, and 
so becomes entangled about these membranous folds, or is, from 
the pressure of the muscles on the vessel, detained for awhile in 
contact with the valves, the principal inflammation takes place 
there. There the parietes of the absorbent are most thickened ; 
a mechanical obstruction seems to be formed, and we feel and 
see many small hard knots, or buds—farcy buds ; and these are 
likewise, at first, in the neighbourhood of the original disease. 
They are almost invariably seen about the lips and nose and 
neck. They are hard, of a scirrhous hardness, more or less ten¬ 
der, and generally with perceptible heat about them. These 
little tumours, the consequence of inflammation, pursue their 
usual course—they suppurate, they ulcerate, and the ulcers have 
the same peculiar character as those on the membrane of the 
nose : they are rounded, with an elevated edge and a pale sur¬ 
face ; they also are true chancres; and they discharge a virus as 
infectious and dangerous as the matter of glanders. 
The Ulceration spreads. —These farcy buds and ulcers are 
sometimes few and small and stationary. The virus seems soon 
to extend its force, or is diluted with other matter. At other 
times they are numerous and spreading and painful; this de¬ 
pends on the quality of the virus and the state of the constitu¬ 
tion. This continues for awhile: the health of the animal is 
scarcely affected ; the progress of the buds and the ulcers is 
rapid or slow, depending on various circumstances; but the 
course is always apparent,—in a direction towards the chest— 
