TWO FATAL CASES OF INTERNAL ABSCESS. 
G:30 
I am led to make these preliminary observations, in order to 
bring before the readers of The Veterinarian one important 
termination of inflammation, which is called suppuration. Sup¬ 
puration has been defined to be, that morbid action by which pus 
is deposited in inflammatory tumours occurring in any part of 
the animal frame. If we are asked, What occasions this morbid 
action, and by what symptoms should we distinguish the secre¬ 
tion of pus in internal organs from other fluids ? How do we 
know where and when it is formed, and what is the treatment 
we should adopt in order to get rid of it ? To what veterinary 
work should we direct the anxious inquirer, in order that he 
might obtain satisfactory answers to these questions ? We should 
be at a loss to give a satisfactory reply. Although we know 
that pus is secreted from the blood, and that, practically, it is an 
effort of nature to relieve the excessive inflammatory state of the 
part, and we can tell from the symptoms and feeling of external 
tumours that pus is formed, and in this case can easily per¬ 
form a cure by opening the abscess and suffering the fluid to 
escape, yet, if pus forms in any internal organ, by what symp¬ 
toms are we able to judge of its existence? 
It is not my intention in this paper to enter into the solution 
of these and many other like questions. They are interesting, 
and can only be solved by those who possess practical expe¬ 
rience, and have given the subject much observation. I merely 
hazard these remarks in order to excite the attention of others; 
and content myself with placing on record two fatal cases of 
abscess in the internal organs, with the hope that the symptoms 
which occurred may be some guide to other practitioners. 
In the month of August 1837, I was requested to look at a 
horse that had been unwell several days from catarrh; little 
notice, however, had been taken of him, it being thought of no 
consequence, and he was turned out to grass. On fetching him 
from the field, one day, for work, his breathing was found to be 
so bad, and he had such an inability to move, that his owner 
became alarmed, and eagerly sought for some assistance. On my 
examining him I found that he was labouring under all the 
symptoms of a violent attack of pleurisy. 
The most energetic remedies were adopted in order to check 
the inflammation, and apparently with success. His breathing 
became relieved, his appetite improved, and his pulse was less 
frequent: still there was a peculiar anxiety of countenance, and 
a variableness in the temperature of the body. 
On percussion there was a dull sound accompanied on one side 
by a complete cessation of the respiratory murmur through a 
considerable portion of the lung. He continued in this state two 
