70 
A CASE OF METASTASIS OF THE ABSCESS OF 
STRANGLES. 
By Mr. John Tombs, Per shore. 
July 1837.—A BROWN cart horse, six years old, the proper¬ 
ty of a farmer in the neighbourhood, was taken ill with laryngi¬ 
tis. He was bled, had aperients, and the throat was stimulated. 
On the 4th July, I visited my patient at three p.m. He was 
inclined to eat, seemed cheerful; pulse 40. At six p.m. I was 
summoned to attend in great haste, as the horse had become sud¬ 
denly and alarmingly worse. I saw him at seven o^clock, and 
found him down, with his mouth open, and gasping for breath. 
He breathed so hardly—like roaring—that he was distinctly 
heard at a distance of fifty yards. There was a copious discharge 
of saliva from his mouth. He was evidently suffering the most 
excruciating pain, and was nearly suffocated. My only chance 
of saving him, was to perform the operation of tracheotomy, which 
1 did with some difficulty, having no other instrument in my 
pocket than an abscess lancet. What added more to the diffi¬ 
culty, was the immense mass of muscle I had to cut through 
before reaching the trachea. 
The moment I opened the trachea the animal was relieved. 
I allowed ingress and egress to the air by stitching the divided 
muscles to the skin of the neck. 
July 6th .—He cannot swallow, but he breathes freely through 
the orifice. I inserted a seton over each parotid gland, and blis¬ 
tered the throat extensively, and gave medicine in the form of a 
linctus, with gruel to drink. 
Sth .—An abscess is forming between the angles of the jaw. 
Blister the part, and exhibit fever medicines. 
10^^.—I opened the abscess. Tonics composed of gentian and 
ginger were then ordered. Between this time and the 20th, nu¬ 
merous small abscesses were formed from the parotid glands down 
to the nose. When the suppurative process ceased, mineral tonics 
were administered, which materially improved the health of the 
horse. 
Ai^giist 2d .—He was turned out to grass, and worked occa¬ 
sionally. 
31s^.—His owner requested me to see him again. I found him 
lively, but w'ith an indifferent appetite, and rather tucked up at 
the flank. Pulse 45, respiration tranquil; no appearance of a 
pulmonary disease. He has never eaten heartily since the original 
attack. I suspected that the poisonous matter of strangles was con- 
