REPORTS OF CASES. 
173 
enlarged to allow free escape of pus, the animal was treated 
by merely washing the discharge twice daily and injecting 
carbolic solution through the fistula. 
This simple treatment was followed during eight days 
consecutively, with the result of apparent or (perhaps fancied) 
alternating or fluctuating improvements, followed by a re¬ 
turn to the condition of statu quo. 
The wounds showing a tendency to close, they were then 
enlarged on both sides, and a fine tubing or hydrant was in¬ 
troduced through the higher one, (that of the right side), and 
the tract more thoroughly washed, the exit of the water car¬ 
rying with it in its course, not only pus, but sloughs of dis¬ 
eased tissues. This treatment having been continued for a 
few days, it was noticed that the neck seemed to become 
swollen, and the enlargement seemed to involve that entire 
region of the body. It was not painful to the touch, but 
seemed merely to render the movement of the animal diffi¬ 
cult. This swelling was at first scarcely perceptible, but con¬ 
tinued to increase for four days from that of its appearance 
until it had become quite serious, and being attributed to the 
infiltration of water during the washing of the tract with the 
hydrant, this was discontinued, and only the external wash¬ 
ing persevered with. 
For several days following, the degree of swelling seemed 
to remain unchanged, but from that time it maintained a 
downward movement towards the lower border of the neck, 
diminishing in proportion towards the superior, and then pass¬ 
ing to the fore part of the chest, down to the fore legs, when, 
by degrees, it disappeared. 
No change, however, had taken place in the fistula in the 
neck. There were the same appearances with the same alter¬ 
nating diminution and increase in the amount of the discharge, 
notwithstanding the modification of treatment, with new 
setons, caustics, injections, antiseptic washes, etc. 
Then, one morning, on dressing the patient, it was ob¬ 
served that on pressing from below upwards, on the right 
side, the discharge of pus became more abundant, and still 
more so if the pressure was made on both sides together, and 
