ACTINOMYCOSIS. 
909 
ACTINOMYCOSIS. 
By W. C. Hanawalt, V. S., Sheffield, Illinois. 
Read before the Annual Meeting of the Illinois State Veterinary Medical Association, 
November 15, 1900. 
In bringing this subject before you it is not my desire to 
advance anything new as to the disease in itself, but to give a 
treatment which has proved successful in a very large per cent, 
of cases in my practice. 
As we all know, it is very hard to tell, when dissecting 
these actinomycotic tumors, when we have all the affected tis¬ 
sue removed. And, again, when we remove these enlargements 
with the knife it is so easy to think the work well done, and de¬ 
sist, leaving the fresh sore covered, as it were, with actinomyces, 
which find lodgment in the flesh and soon develop new ab¬ 
scesses. You at first might think that to leave a wound of 
one’s own making thus infected would be poor surgery, but I 
will say for myself I have seen this very mishap occur in my 
practice after dusting the raw surface with powdered corrosive 
sublimate, thus leaving no doubt in my mind that the proper 
way to remove such tumors and abscesses is not with the knife. 
My attention was first directed to caustics by a report from 
the Ohio Experiment Station by Dr. H. J. Detmers, State Vet¬ 
erinarian for Ohio, some nine or ten years ago or more, in which 
he recommended an admixture of arsenic, caustic potash and 
gum acacse, as a mixture to remove the tumors without the 
scalpel, and I am glad to say that I consider his formula a good 
one. The only objection is the slow and lingering slough. 
The treatment I advise is chromic acid. Take, say, one 
dram of chromic acid crystals, by measure, and two ounces of 
water, making an average solution. Open the abscess enough 
to insert the index finger, with this remove the pus and cauli¬ 
flower growth, which you must break down as much as pos¬ 
sible. Now take a small wad of absorbent cotton with your 
pincers, dip it into the solution, squeeze out enough so it will 
not drip, and introduce it into the cavity you previously made 
