SCROFULOUS OSTITIS IN FOALS. 
579 
tensely painful. During the incipient stage they may be more 
or less metastatic, which might lead one to attribute them to 
rheumatism ; however, they are unlike rheumatismal swellings 
in being subject to suppuration and a general destructive 
process. 
The patient occupies the recumbent position a good deal 
of the time and relieves the pressure at the affected joints as 
much as possible by flexion. Should the disease be progres¬ 
sive, the muscular abscesses burst if not opened mechanically, 
discharging a white colored, offensive pus. The swellings ol 
the articulations and surrounding synovial sacs become 
soft, the contained fluids and semi-solids escaping, leaving 
sinous ulcers which do not readily heal. The discharges are 
foetid when osseous and ligamentous structures are involved. 
Dropsical effusions with the serous cavities and the lax con¬ 
nective tissues are of common occurence. Erysipelatous in¬ 
flammations, involving the integument around abscesses, naval 
and local dropsical swellings, are conditions with which the 
practitioner has to contend at times. 
Post-mortem Appearances. —Post-mortem examinations re¬ 
veal many different lesions. Among the most common may be 
mentioned inflammation of umbilical vessels with thrombosis in 
process of suppuration, purulent arthritis and intra-muscular 
or subcutaneous abscesses. The liver at times exhibits the 
alterations of acute parenchymatous hepatitis ; abscesses form 
in the organ and the extension of inflammation of the umbili¬ 
cal vein to the hepatic ramifications of the vena portse are 
found. The kidneys, heart and lungs may be affected ; the 
spleen is frequently soft in texture and comparatively blood¬ 
less. Catarrhal enteritis, accompanied by hyperplasia of the 
mesenteric glands, irido-choroiditis and tumefaction of the 
bronchial and other glands are conditions found present less 
frequently. 
Examination of the bones where arthritis has been severe 
will reveal caries, deposits in the cancellated structure, soft¬ 
ening of the cartilages uniting the epiphyses by cellular pro¬ 
liferation, thickening of periosteum and its detachment in 
places, ulceration of articular cartilage and ligamentous 
attachments. 
