CORRESPONDENCE. 
479 
If this disease is cellulitis, how comes it that we have all the 
unmistakable phenomena of influenza during the outbreak ? Are 
we to infer that influenza is a complication of cellulitis ? Shall 
we call the tail the dog, or shall we be reasonable and acknowl¬ 
edge that the dog is still the dog, notwithstanding his tail attracts 
the most attention by reason of its swollen condition ? 1 by no 
means object to recognizing the complications of influenza, what 
ever they may be, and, if you please, I will say, as the Germans 
have done, that one of these complications is erysipelatous 
phlegmonosum (cellulitis), and that in the present outbreak it is 
the one most prevalent; but I will not consent to calling the dis¬ 
ease by this name, unless it can be shown that I am in error 
regarding what constitutes epizootic influenza. 
Respectfully, 
A. A. Holcombe. 
OPERATION FOR CARTILAGINOUS QUITTOR. 
Boston, December 5, 1881. 
Editor American Veterinary Review: 
Gentlemen :—In the November number of the Review, at 
page 373, there is an interesting description given of the removal 
of the cartilage to cure quittor. 
With your permission, I will state a little of my experience in 
treating tins disease, and at the same time make some remarks on 
the case referred to. 
We are informed that “the horse had, for over six months, a 
cartilaginous quittor ; ” he was then operated on, and “ resumed 
his work in thirty-five days,” making the duration of the disease 
seven or eight months. 
Although I have treated a great many cases by burning out 
the sinuses with the red hot rod, by caustic applications and blis¬ 
ters, by forcibly removing the wall and sole from the affected 
quarter, and otherwise, I have never succeeded in hastening their 
recovery in much short of six or eight months from the first open¬ 
ing of the sinus ; neither have I ever seen a case where the dis¬ 
charge did not stop in that time under simple treatment. I have 
