tubing,  gauze,  or  strips  of  rubber  tissue.  Dressings  should  be  changed  fre-
c|ucct]y  and  the  part  kept  at  rest.  Heat  is  often  grateful  to  the  piatient.  If
there  is  pain  severe  enough  to  interfere  with  sleep,  or  if  the  fever  persists,  it
will  usually  be  found  that  drainage  is  insulTicient  and  that  a  larger  incision  is
indicated.  \Vlicn  an  abscess  is  situated  in  a  dangerous  region,  such  as  the
neck,  one  may  employ  Hiltmi's  method,  i.e.,  the  skin  and  deep  fascia  are  incised,
and  after  a  director  has  been  pushed  into  the  cavity,  a  pair  of  closed  hemo-
static forceps  i.s  passed  along  the  groove,  then  opened,  and  withdrawn  while
open  so  as  to  dilate  or  tear  the  slruclurcs.  In  some  cases  a  counteropening
is  desirable  for  better  drainage,  or  for  through  and  through  irrigation.  This
is  made  by  pushing  a  pair  of  forceps  against  the  opposite  wall  of  the  abscess,
and  culling  down  ufxin  the  end  with  a  knife.     (For  Bier's  treatment  see  p.  76.)

Chronic  abscesses  may  be  syphilitic  in  origin;  they  may  occur  as  the  result
of  infection  witli  pyogenic  organisms,  the  abscess  wall  having  become
fibrous  tissue;  they  may  occur  in  the  liver  as  the  result  of  infection  with  the
amceba  coli,  or  in  the  pelvis  as  the  result  of  infection  with  the  gonococcus;
and  they  may  occur  in  the  brain.  The  term  chronic,  however,  as  usually  em-
ployed, means  tuberculous, and  it  is  with  such  that  we  shall  deal  under  this  head-
ing. The  abscess  is  formed  by  the  Uquefaction  of  tuberculous  tissue  (see  tuber-
culosis), and  although  it  may  occur  in  any  portion  of  the  body,  it  is  most  fre-
quently found  in  connection  with  bones,  joints,  and  lymphatic  glands.
