608 
STRANGLERS. 
the observations that had occurred to myself*, that I was in¬ 
duced to believe not only that the abscess or local affection 
was but consecutive and secondary; but that, as Mr. Feron 
(in his Treatise on Farriery) has observed, “ the swelling is 
not always confined under the jaw, but the animal frequently 
breaks out in several places of the body, and at different times, 
before it sinks, which renders the case more tedious and trouble¬ 
some an observation since confirmed by the testimony of Mr. 
Dick, of Edinburgh, who observes in his lectures, although 
the disease commonly terminates by an abscess under the jaw, 
yet it may, and occasionally does, give rise to collections of mat¬ 
ter on other parts of the surface.” To which I may add, that it 
appears in this character to answer every end which it did in the 
form of strangles. Nay, my own observations carry me even a 
step beyond this ; and I now begin to doubt whether any tumour 
or abscess at all is absolutely necessary to answer that end (what¬ 
ever it may be) which nature has in view in subjecting young 
horses to the disorder. I believe most horses to have, sooner or 
later in life, strangle-fever ; but I doubt that every one that has 
that fever has it demonstrated or accompanied by local tumour 
or abscess. Be this as it may, however, that the tumour hap¬ 
pens in other parts of the body, as well as the throat, is a point 
Mr. Castley’s three cases (to which he could have added many 
others”) goes far to establish ; and in my]mind very far, because 
I have now others of my own to add to them. What inclines 
me to think that many horses, though they may, and I believe 
do, undergo the fever of strangles, do not experience the local 
disease, is, in the first place, because some of those that are 
admitted by us to have strangles, only have it in the form of a 
swelling under the jaw, neither very bulky nor very sensible,and 
♦ In looking over my notes on strangles, I find the following memoran¬ 
dum, penned some time prior to the publication of Mr. Castley’s paper:— 
“ Cases not infrequently present themselves, in which the cellular tissue 
covering the parotid gland, before the root of the ear, in the hollow between 
the branch of the jaw and the vertebrae, becomes the seat of abscess. Is 
this to be considered, when alone, as the disease itself; or merely as a pre¬ 
cursor or sequela V' 
