Part 106
The _presence of worms_, when they exist in considerable numbers, is easily detected; for such a dog has usually a slight cough, his coat stares, he eats voraciously, yet seldom fattens: his evacuations prove also a most unequivocal symptom, for they are, in such cases, peculiarly irregular, being at one time loose and slimy, and at another more hard and dry than natural. The belly likewise is often tense and enlarged. When very young dogs have worms, the first that pass are seldom noticed, for they seem to affect the health but little; but gradually, as they increase, purging becomes more frequent; and the animal, though lively, becomes emaciated; his appetite is often irregular, his nose hot and dry, and his breath fœtid. The growth likewise appears stationary, and in this way it is very common for him to continue till a fit or two carries him off, or he dies tabid. In adult dogs worms are less fatal, though, from the obstructions they form, they sometimes kill them likewise; and they always occasion a rough unhealthy coat, with a hot nose and fœtid breath; and in both the young and the full grown, they occasionally produce epileptic fits. It does not follow, because no worms are seen to pass away, that one who exhibits the other symptoms of them has none; neither, when they are not seen, does it follow even that none pass; for, if they remain long in the intestines after they are dead, they become digested like other animal matter.
The _treatment_ of worm cases in dogs has been like that of the human, and the remedies employed have been intended either to destroy the worms within the body, or otherwise to drive them mechanically, as it were, out of the bowels by active purgatives; but, as these latter means were violent (for, without the very mucus of the bowels, as well as the fæces, were expelled, no benefit was derived from them), so the remedy, in many instances, became worse than the disease. Many substances have, therefore, been tried in hopes of destroying these animals within the body; and it is evident that any thing that could certainly do this would be most important, as it would obviate the necessity of having recourse to the violent purgative means heretofore employed.
For this purpose, substances which present small spiculi, or points, have been found the best adapted for the destruction of worms, by abrading their external or internal surfaces, and that without in the slightest degree injuring the patient. Among huntsmen and gamekeepers glass, very finely powdered, is a very favourite remedy. An old man of this description, in Buckinghamshire, was famed for worm-killing in dogs, and his only means used was glass finely powdered, and given as a ball. Mr. Youatt also recommends the same. If this should be objected to, from what I believe to be a groundless fear, that it is dangerous, try the following:—
Cowhage (_dolichos pruriens_, LINN.) half a drachm. Tin filings or iron, made with a very fine file 4 drachms.
Form into four, six, or eight balls, and give one every morning; after which, a mercurial purgative will be proper. I have occasionally succeeded, in very obstinate worm cases, by moderate daily doses of Epsom salts. Ascarides are best destroyed by soap or aloetic clysters. The tape-worm is not unfrequently removed by mercurial purges; but a still more certain remedy for this noxious guest is such doses of the oil of turpentine as a dog could safely take, remembering that dogs bear very little of it: to some, however, it proves much less hurtful than to others. A small dog might be tried with half a drachm, given night and morning, mixed with the yolk of an egg, for a few days: a larger two scruples, and the largest a drachm, beginning always with a very small dose, and increasing it, if it produce no disturbance.—_Daniel_—_The Horse_—_White_—_Blaine._
WORMEATEN, _a._ Gnawed by worms, worthless.
WORMWOOD, _s._ A plant.
WORMY, _a._ Full of worms.
WOUND, _s._ A hurt given by violence.
Wounds, bruises, and other injuries, may happen in various ways, by kicks, by bites, in leaping over hedges or gates, by kicking against stalls, and many other ways. Various names have been applied to such injuries, according to the manner in which they are inflicted; but there is no occasion for such distinctions: they are all bruises or contused wounds, and all require to be poulticed or fomented. It is to be observed, that, in all injuries of this kind, whether wounds or bruises, or both, the horse should be immediately bled freely, and have his bowels opened by a dose of physic. The diet also should be attended to, allowing only a very moderate quantity at first of grass, or bran mashes. In all those cases poultices are by far the best remedy, until the inflammation is completely subdued; and when the situation of the part will not admit of a poultice, which is seldom the case, then fomentations of warm water only, almost constantly applied, are the best substitute. When inflammation has quite ceased, which may be known by an abatement of the pain and swelling, and by the appearance of white matter, the poultice may be discontinued, and then the wound should be carefully dressed to the bottom with a tent of tow, dipped in melted digestive ointment. The cavity is not to be filled with the tent, but it must be introduced to the bottom, and then the wound will heal as it ought; whereas, if it is dressed superficially, or only syringed, it will often close over at the surface, and the wound appear healed, while the matter is spreading and doing mischief at the bottom. There are four obstacles to the complete healing of wounds which sometimes occur, and these are, when the wound has been complicated with an injury of a bone, a ligament, a cartilage, or a tendon. In either of these cases the fleshy parts and skin will generally heal readily, and the wound will appear nearly or quite healed, except a small or minute orifice, from which a little matter oozes; and this orifice is not perceptible, being covered with spongy flesh, until a probe is introduced; it will then be found that there is a sinus running down to the bottom of the original wound, and there the probe will be resisted by the diseased bone, ligament, cartilage, or tendon. The bone may be easily distinguished by the sensation conveyed to the hand through the probe; and when this is felt a free opening should be made, if the situation of the wound will admit of it, and the diseased surface scraped off. A tent of friar’s balsam should then be introduced, and continued until it is cured. If the first scraping has not been freely performed, a second may be necessary. Sometimes sinuses, or pipes, as they are termed, remain after the inflammation of wounds has subsided. If these are superficial, running under the surface, or nearly horizontally, they require to be laid open, and then they heal readily. Sometimes they run obliquely inward, or perpendicularly, and then require to be dressed at first with stimulating or even caustic tents, of solution of blue vitriol; and these must be repeated until the sides of the sinus have sloughed off, and the very bottom of the wound can be distinctly felt. In all complicated ulcers of this kind, where the sinus runs in a winding or crooked direction, or where there are two or more sinuses, the caustic tents must be repeated until they are brought to the state of one simple sore, the bottom of which can be distinctly felt; and if the bottom happen to be bone, it must be scraped freely and dressed with friar’s balsam. A good method of destroying such sinuses is to take some corrosive sublimate, or finely pulverised blue vitriol, and fold it up in a long narrow slip of thin whity-brown paper; this being neatly folded may be twisted at each end, and may thus be conveniently introduced into the sinuses, and forced to the very bottom with a long probe. Several small particles of this kind may be made and forced in one after another, until all the sinuses are completely filled. By these means a large core or slough will be brought out in four or five days; and if the sinuses are not then so destroyed that the bottom can be ascertained, the same dressing must be repeated.
There is a class of punctured wounds that will not admit of the treatment I have described; these are punctured wounds of the sheath of tendons, and the capsular ligament of joints. Such wounds often happen about the fetlock and hock joint, or in the sheath of the flexor tendon, or back sinew; and these are often attended with considerable inflammation and swelling. It will not be proper to introduce tents into such wounds, or to irritate them by probing: emollient poultices are considered the remedies for such wounds; but they do not always succeed; I have in several cases found it necessary to touch the wound with lunar caustic, before I could procure any abatement of the inflammation and swelling, and I am inclined to believe that this had better be done on the first occurrence of such wounds. The caustic should be scraped off to a point, and introduced within the wound about the eighth of an inch or a little more; it should then be moved round a little, and withdrawn. I have seen a punctured wound in the fore leg, near the fetlock joint, get well rapidly after this had been done; though emollient poultices and fomentations had been carefully employed for several days before without doing the least good; on the contrary they were doing harm, for the inflammation, pain, and swelling, certainly increased while they were employed. But the caustic seemed to operate almost as a charm; for the leg got well in two or three days after it was applied. I have seen a similar good effect from it in a punctured wound of the hock joint.
In lacerated wounds, as they are termed, the skin is often much torn, and so are the muscles or flesh. Now the muscles must never be stitched up, on any account whatever; the skin only is to be stitched or sewed up, and that will rarely be of any use in the horse, as union by the first intension, I believe I may venture to say, can never be accomplished in the horse, except in one situation, and that is in the forehead, when the skin has been torn neatly down or up and not bruised. When the skin of a lacerated wound has been stitched up, the stitches always give way, and the wound is completely open again by the fifth day, and then the flap of skin may as well be removed, for it never will unite. The scar will then be much less than a person would imagine, for the skin and hair will be in a great measure regenerated, and scarcely any blemish will be left.
Bruises always require to be poulticed, and there is scarcely any situation where this cannot be done, if a person will but take a little trouble about it. If, however, it cannot be done, a fomentation is the best substitute. For bruises on the back the old farriers employed a greasy dish-clout, and this, next to a poultice, is perhaps the best remedy; for the cloth has been so softened by almost constant maceration in water, and is so completely imbued with grease, that it really becomes a good emollient application, and only requires to be kept wet. By this treatment bruises will be generally brought to suppuration, and if they are capable of being dispersed, poultices are the best means of effecting it. When a bruise has been brought to suppuration, or has thrown off a slough, it may then be considered as a wound or rather ulcer, for such wounds do become when they have suppurated, and must be treated according to the directions I have given under that head. These are all the instructions necessary to be given for the treatment of wounds and bruises. I think there is no occasion here for the classification and distinctions that are employed in human surgery; and it will be found, I trust, that what has been said on the subject, will be sufficient for every accident that may happen.
* * * * *
When a horse becomes suddenly lame, after the legs have been carefully examined and no cause of lameness appears in them, the shoe should be taken off. In many cases the offending substance will be immediately detected, or the additional heat felt in some part of the foot will point out the seat of injury; or, if the crust be rapped with the hammer all round, the flinching of the horse will discover it; or pressure with the pincers will render it evident.
When the shoe is removed for this examination the smith should never be permitted to wrench it off, but each nail should be drawn separately, and examined as it is drawn, when some moisture appearing upon it will not unfrequently reveal the spot at which matter has been thrown out. In the fore-foot the injury will generally be found on the inner quarter, and on the hind foot near the toe, these being the thinnest parts of the fore and hind-feet.
Sudden lameness occurring within two or three days after the horse has been shod will lead us to suspect that the smith has been in fault; yet no one who considers the thinness of the crust, and the difficulty of shoeing many feet, will blame him for sometimes pricking the horse. His fault will consist in concealing or denying that of which he will almost always be aware at the time of shoeing, from the flinching of the horse, or the dead sound, or the peculiar resistance that may be noticed in the driving of the nail.
When the seat of mischief is ascertained, the sole should be thinned round it, and, especially at the nail-hole or the puncture, it should be pared to the quick. The escape of some matter will now probably tell the nature of the injury, and remove its consequences. If it be puncture of the sole by some nail, or any similar body, picked up on the road, all that will be necessary is a little to enlarge the opening, and then to place on it a pledget of tow dipped in friar’s balsam, and over that a little common stopping; or, if there be much heat and lameness, a poultice should be applied.
The part of the sole wounded and the depth of the wound will be taken into consideration. It will be seen that a deep puncture towards the back part of the sole, and penetrating even into the sensible frog, may not be productive of serious consequence. There is no great motion in the part, and there are no tendons or bones in danger. A puncture near the toe may not be followed by much injury. There is little motion in that part of the foot, and the internal sole covering the coffin-bone will soon heal; but a puncture about the centre of the sole may wound the flexor tendon where it is inserted into the coffin-bone, or may even penetrate the joint which unites the navicular bone with the coffin-bone, or pierce through the tendon into the joint which it forms with the navicular-bone, and a degree of inflammation may ensue, which, if neglected, may be fatal. Many horses have been lost by the smallest puncture of the sole in these dangerous points. All the anatomical skill of the veterinarian should be called into requisition, when he is examining the most trifling wound of the foot.
If the foot has been wounded by the wrong direction of a nail in shoeing, and the sole be well pared out over the part on the first appearance of lameness, little more will be necessary to be done. The opening must be somewhat enlarged, the friar’s balsam applied, and the shoe tacked on, with or without a poultice, according to the degree of lameness or heat, and on the following day all will often be well. It may, however, be prudent to keep the foot stopped for a few days. If the accident has been neglected, and matter begins to be formed, and to be pent up and to press on the neighbouring parts, and the horse evidently suffers extreme pain, and is sometimes scarcely able to put his foot to the ground, and much matter is poured out when the opening is enlarged, further precautions must be adopted. The fact must be recollected that the living and dead horn will never unite, and every portion of the horny sole that has separated from the fleshy sole above must be removed. The separation must be followed as far as it reaches. Much of the success of the treatment depends on this. No small strip or edge of separated horn must be suffered to press upon any part of the wound. The exposed fleshy sole must then be touched, but not too severely, with the butyr (chloride) of antimony, some soft and dry tow placed over the part, and the foot stopped, and a poultice placed over all, if the inflammation seems to require it. On the following day a thin pellicle of horn will frequently be found over a part or the whole of the wound. This should be, yet very lightly, touched again with the caustic; but if there be an appearance of fungus sprouting from the exposed surface, the application of the butyr must be more severe, and the tow again placed over it, so as to afford considerable yet uniform pressure. Many days do not often elapse before the new horn covers the whole of the wound. In these extensive openings the friar’s balsam will not often be successful, but the cure must be effected by the judicious and never too severe use of the caustic. Bleeding at the toe and physic will be resorted to as useful auxiliaries when much inflammation arises.
In searching the foot to ascertain the existence of prick, there is often something very censurable in the carelessness with which the horn is cut away between the bottom of the crust and the sole, so as to leave little or no hold for the nails, while some months must elapse before the horn will grow down sufficiently far for the shoe to be securely fastened.
When a free opening has been made below, and matter has not broken out at the coronet, it will rarely be necessary to remove any portion of the horn at the quarters, although we may be able to ascertain by the use of the probe that the separation of the crust extends for a considerable space above the sole.
* * * * *
Dogs are liable to become wounded in various ways, and their wounds, however bad, are not, generally much attended to, from an opinion that the animal’s tongue is the best dressing. This is very questionable: in some instances, I am certain, no application can be worse to a wounded dog than his own tongue. Whenever dogs are at all inclined to foulness, as a tendency to cuticular complaints is called, a sore, so licked, is sure to become mangy, and to be aggravated by the licking.
Wounds in the chest or belly should be closed up as soon as possible, to prevent the external air from penetrating: a stitch or two made in the integuments is proper; over which some adhesive plaster, and a bandage over that, may be applied. If the intestines protrude in a wounded belly, and the bowels are themselves wounded; first, neatly stitch up the intestinal opening, and return the gut; then close the wound in the integuments, leaving the thread which united the gut, if long enough, hanging without the external wound.
In wounds of arteries or veins, the hæmorrhage should be stopped by pressure: should that not succeed, take up the vessel with needle and thread. Wounds into joints occur from cuts, and often from stabs: great inflammation is apt to follow, and the dog is often lamed for life. If the synovia escapes by a very minute puncture, and the inflammation is not yet very extensive, treat exactly as in horse practice, by firing with the budding iron. If the wound be a lacerated one, and not already much inflamed, place over it a pledget of lint, and over that a thick paste of linseed meal; after which bandage the whole up moderately tight. Should the inflammation be great, reduce that by a common poultice, and then endeavour to close the joint as above.
In all extensive and lacerated wounds, a stitch or two should be made with a large needle and thread, as it will reduce both the sore and the scar; but as such stitches soon ulcerate out in the dog, so the edges should be still further secured by slips of sticking-plaster. A recent wound should be cleansed from the dirt, and then covered up; when it begins to suppurate, dress with any mild ointment. In thorn wounds, or others made with splinters, carefully examine that nothing is left within them; otherwise no attempts to produce healing will prove successful. The most common wounds in dogs arise from the bites of others; and, under any such circumstance, should any suspicion arise that the dog was mad by which the wounded one was bitten, proceed as directed under Rabies. The wounds arising from common bites, in general soon heal of themselves. If, however, they are very extensive, wash them with friar’s balsam, to prevent their becoming gangrenous.
* * * * *
_For a wound from shot._—Oil of turpentine, oil of camomile, and aqua vitæ, of each two ounces, and half a pint of linseed oil, well mixed together. A second is goose grease, melted and strained through a sieve, and an equal quantity of best spirits of wine and spirits of turpentine: of the three articles put rather most of the goose grease, which must be fresh, and strained quite clear and fine.—_White_—_The Horse_—_Blaine_—_Daniel._
WREN, _s._ A small bird.
WRENCH, _s._ A violent pull or twist; a sprain.
WRESTLE, _v._ To contend who shall throw the other down; to struggle; to contend.
YACHT, _s._ A small ship anciently used for carrying passengers; a private vessel of pleasure.
The Royal Yacht Club, at the present time, has about five hundred and eighty-eight persons on its lists, of which one hundred and thirty-six are members, and four hundred and fifty-two are honorary members. Of the former number about one fifth are peers, twelve baronets, four knights, three generals, three colonels, eight captains, two clergymen, and seventy-nine private gentlemen. Among the latter (honorary members) we find nineteen admirals, twenty-nine vice-admirals, thirty-one rear-admirals, and three hundred and sixty-two captains, independently of eleven eminent civilians, who head the list. The number of yachts is one hundred and nine—of which eighty-seven are cutters, ten schooners, three brigs, four yawls, two ships, two ketches, and one lugger. The greater part of these vessels belong to Cowes and to Southampton, the rest being distributed among the different ports of the three kingdoms. The shipping belonging to the club amounts to 7250 tons. Now, at a moderate computation, each vessel carries ten men on an average; this gives us the total number employed by the club, one thousand and sixty. During the summer months, then, while regattas are celebrated, we may say that the Royal Yacht Club alone supports more than eleven hundred men. These, with some few exceptions, are discharged on the approach of winter, and the yachts are laid up for the season, retaining the master and one man in pay. The crews thus discharged obtain employment in merchant vessels or otherwise during the winter, and in the middle of spring are generally re-shipped in the yachts in which they have previously served. Active and industrious men of good character are always sure of constant employment in the club on these conditions; and many members justly pride themselves on the high discipline, manly bearing, and crack appearance of their crew. The situation of master is one of much responsibility, and is on all accounts respectably filled. In some of the largest craft, junior officers of the navy are found to accept this office. The Flower of Yarrow, the property of the Duke of Buccleuch, is commanded by one of the oldest lieutenants in the service, to say nothing of others, respecting which we cannot enter into particulars.