CHAPTER XIV.

INJURIES--THEIR NATURE AND THEIR TREATMENT.

POLL EVIL.

=Poll evil= consists of a deep abscess, ending in an ulcerous sore which has numerous sinuses. The situation of the affection is the most forward portion of the neck, near the top of the head, which part is peculiarly liable to injury, especially in agricultural horses.

The gentlemen who superintend the laying down of stable floors always make the pavements of the stalls to slant from the manger to the gangway. They either know nothing about the habits of the horse, or they disdain to think about so trivial a matter as the convenience of an animal. Their stables are built for men; and it is sufficient if the places will hold whatsoever man chooses to put into such out-buildings.

The horse is most at ease when the position takes the strain off the flexor tendons. That end is accomplished when the hind legs are the higher portion of the body, or when the ground slants in precisely the opposite direction to which the flooring of all present stables incline. The animal, finding the slope which is most convenient for the builder's purposes adverse to its comfort, endeavors to compound the matter by hanging back upon the halter, thus getting the hind feet into the open drain which always divides the stalls from the gangway.

The rope should be stout which has to sustain the huge weight of the horse; in proportion to that weight, of course, must be the pressure upon the seat of poll evil. Pressure, as a natural consequence, stops circulation. Upon circulation being freely performed, health, secretion, and even life itself is dependent. The flow of blood to any part of the body cannot be long prevented without unpleasant sensations being engendered. Numbness and itching are the first results. The horse tries to master these by rubbing its head violently against the trevise or division of the stall. Friction, when applied to an irritable place, is never a soothing process; when instituted by the huge strength of a horse, its probable ill effects may be easily surmised. It is, therefore, no legitimate cause for wonder if some of the fleshy substances, compressed between the external wood and the internal bones of the neck, become bruised, and deep-seated abscess is thus provoked.

This, however, is not the sole cause; there are others equally potent and generally springing from the same source--namely, from human folly. How much of animal agony might be spared if man, in the pride of superiority, would deign to waste an occasional thought upon the poor creatures which are born and live in this country only by his permission and to labor in his service! Stable doors are commonly made as though none but human beings had to pass through them. The tallest of mankind, probably, might enter a stable without stooping; but does it therefore follow that a horse can pass under the beam without assuming a crouching position? Many horses learn to fear the doorway. They shy, rear, or prance, whenever led toward it. Man, however, refuses to be instructed by the action of his mute servant; those symptoms of fear, which are the bitter fruits of experience, are attributed to the patient and enduring quadruped as exhibitions of the rankest vice.

Low doors, such as usually belong to stables, are among the most frequent causes of poll evil. The horse, when passing through them, is either surprised by something it beholds outside the building, or checked by the voice of the groom. The sudden elevation of the head is, in the animal, expressive of every unexpected emotion. Up goes the crest and crash comes the poll against the beam of the doorway. A violent bruise is thereby provoked, and a deep-seated abscess is the sad result.

The horse likewise suffers from the representatives in brutality of him for whose benefit it wears out its existence. Carters display their ignorance by getting into violent passions with their teams. "Whooay" and "kum hup" are shouted out; the huge whip is slashed and snaffle jagged, till mute intelligence is fairly puzzled. Were mortals in the like position, subject to the same terrible chastisement, and, at the same time, forbid to inquire the wishes of their commander, they would be in no better condition. The panting, sweating, and starting of the poor, confused quadrupeds announce their terror. The driver, too enraged to understand himself, and too impatient to delay punishment upon the objects of his wrath, resorts to the butt-end of his heavy whip. Some wretched animal is struck upon the poll, for the head is always aimed at when stupidity quarrels with its own ignorance, and a dreadful disorder is established.

All the causes of poll evil may, however, be reduced to one--namely, to external injury. The first result of such a cause is pain whenever the head is moved. Motion enforces the contraction of the bruised muscles; and the agony growing more and more acute, the sufferer acquires a habit of protruding the nose in a very characteristic manner long before the slightest symptom of the malady can be perceived. When forced to bend the head toward the manger, it generally hangs back to the length of the halter; for although so doing occasions pain, the position renders the necessary angle of the head upon the neck as little acute as possible. The anguish attendant upon the earlier stages of the disease is exemplified by the length of time occupied in emptying the manger. At this stage nothing is apparent; at this period also great cruelty is too often exercised when the collar is forced over the head regardless of the struggles of the acutely-diseased animal.

Should the seat of poll evil at this stage of the disease be particularly examined, the most lengthened inspection, when prompted by expectation, may fail to detect even an indication of probable enlargement. Pressure, or enforced motion of the head, excites resistance. A few weeks in some cases, and the swelling becomes marked or prominent. In others, the enlargement is never well developed: instances of this last kind invariably are the most difficult to treat, for in them the seat of the disorder is always most deeply seated. The size of the tumor is therefore always to be hailed as a promise that the injury is tolerably near the surface, and, consequently, more under the influence of remedial measures.

After pressure has been made, the agony occasioned causes the animal to be difficult of approach. The common method of examination is, however, very wrong. No good is done by inflicting torture. Something, on the contrary, is concealed. Place the fingers lightly on the part, and allow them to remain there till the fear, excited by a touch upon a tender place, has subsided. Then, and not till then, gradually introduce pressure. The more superficial the injury, the more speedy will be the response. The longer the time and greater the force requisite to induce signs of uneasiness, the deeper, as a general rule, will be the center of the disease.

In either case there is little good accomplished by those applications which are recognized as mild measures. Fomentations and poultices commonly waste valuable time, and, at last, prove of no avail. Therefore, blister over the place. Obviously, the employment of more active treatment is at present forbidden. Do not, however, give the carter so much liquid blister, to be rubbed in by his heavy and coarse hand; but lightly paint over the seat of the supposed hurt with spirituous or acetous tincture of cantharides. Do this daily till copious irritation is produced, and, before that dies away, repeat the dressing. Keep up the soreness, but do no more. Never apply the tincture upon active vesication, otherwise a foul sore, ending in a lasting blemish, may be the result. Make the poll merely painful. An additional motive will thereby be instituted to keep the head perfectly quiet, for constant motion provokes the worst consequences of poll evil, causing the confined pus to burrow, or to form sinuses.

The foregoing treatment has been proposed because the tincture, when applied by means of a brush, penetrates the hair more quickly, acts quite as energetically, and is less likely to run down upon other parts than the oil of cantharides, which the heat of the body always renders more liquid. It is advised to be used, because it establishes an external inflammation. Inflammations in living bodies, like fires preying upon inanimate substances, have an attraction for each other. All injuries which lead to suppuration likewise have a tendency to move toward the surface; and these two laws, acting together, very probably may tend to the speedier development of poll evil, thereby shortening the sufferings of the animal. Should they not have that effect, the vesicatory is beneficial. About the head of the horse are numerous layers of thin tendon, which are termed fascia. Through this substance matter absorbs its way with difficulty. It is, therefore, almost imprisoned, and motion always disposes the pus to seek new outlets. Thus pipes or sinuses are formed; these constitute one of the worst symptoms attendant upon poll evil.

As soon as the swelling appears, watch it attentively. Wait till some particular spot points, or till it feels softer, if it be not more prominent than the surrounding substance. Then have the animal cast. Being down, take a keen knife and open the spot before indicated. That being accomplished, pause while the secretion flows forth. Afterward insert into the cut a small, flexible probe. When its progress is impeded, employ the knife with a director. Continue doing this till the seat or center of the disease has been gained.

Remember, however, you are not hacking at the family loaf; it is living and sensitive flesh you are wounding. Therefore, be very careful your knife is thoroughly sharpened, and is of sufficient size; mind, also, that all the cuts run smoothly into one another, so as to leave clean surfaces for the healing process to unite. Having reached the heart of the disorder, proceed to empty out all the concrete matter. That done, wash out the part with a syringe and the coldest spring water. Afterward examine the cavity. Excise any loose pieces of tendon or of ligament, and cut until a healthy aspect is everywhere presented. Then rub the sides of the deep-seated wound with lunar caustic. Let the horse rise, giving orders that the sore is to be thoroughly moistened thrice daily with the solution of the chloride of zinc, one grain to the ounce of water, and, placing a rag dipped in a solution of tar over the wound to keep off the flies, return the horse to the stable.

If the disease be left to run its course, the swelling generally increases, while numerous openings at last disfigure the enlargement. From such drain a glairy discharge. This adheres to the surrounding parts, and, joined to the miserable expression of the countenance, gives to the horse a peculiarly unpleasant appearance. The flesh wastes under the perpetual anguish, and the half-conscious aspect of the creature justifies a suspicion that the brain is affected.

In that case, proceed as before directed concerning casting the horse and the knife with which you operate. Have the blade rather too large than too small. Most veterinary instruments are mere adaptations of those employed by the human surgeon. The author never remembers to have seen anything approaching to the magnitude of a proper horses operating knife in the hands of his fellows. A small blade compels numerous small cuts. The part is rather snipped asunder than divided by one clean incision. The recovery is thereby materially delayed; and the lengthened operation greatly deteriorates from its chances of success, not to dwell upon the increased suffering occasioned to the quadruped.

The horse being down, do not attempt any display of your proficiency. Look well and long at the part intended to be operated upon. Decide in your own mind the course in which the knife is to move. That course should be influenced by the direction in which you may probably separate the greater number of sinuses. In the engraving inserted below there are four holes, each indicating the presence of a sinus. The supposed direction of the knife is laid down by dotted lines. The primary and lower incision includes three of the pipes. That made, another connects the other sinus with the longer incision; the after-labor necessitates the cleaning of the central sac, removing all the hanging pieces, also probing the sinuses, and making sure all are fairly opened. If any are found unopened, a director should be inserted, and the channel should be connected with the chief wound by means of a smaller knife.

Two cautions are necessary to be given with regard to the treatment of poll evil: Never permit the knife to be applied upon the root of the mane. Underneath the hair which decorates the neck of the horse lies an important ligament, by means of which the head is chiefly supported. All the evils which might be anticipated may not spring from the division of that development; but it is well to spare it, although the prostrate animal should have to be turned over, and the operation have to be continued on the other side. Also, when working the creature subsequent to its recovery, never use a collar. Wounds, although perfectly healed, are apt to remain morbidly sensitive; serious accidents, over which the reader would deeply grieve, may occur from the harness touching the part which once was diseased. A breast strap is, therefore, to be much preferred.

There are several popular methods of treating this disease. All, however, are cruel; one is barbarous; when properly conducted, none are efficient under the direction of a person possessing the smallest feeling. The injection of potent caustics in solution, or violent compression upon an exquisitely tender swelling even until the force employed amounts to that power which can bring the sides of a distant internal cavity together, drive out the corruption, and hold the part in that position while healing is established, have been largely advocated. Whoever could increase the suffering of a mute and patient life to that degree which the last method necessitates would merit a much severer punishment than the writer can afford space to detail. Of these modes of cure the author can profess no experience. He has, however, seen injections used; in no instance have they been successful. The time which they occupied was enormous, and the expense with which they were attended by no means small. The man who hopes to eradicate this disease should never have recourse to them.

Another process, formerly very popular, consisted in slicing the living flesh in a very coarse and vulgar manner; that, however, was merely preparatory. The chief dependence was placed in boiling liquor, which was inhumanly poured into the wounds. After such a method were all sinuous sores treated by an ignorant and uneducated quack, who especially delighted in eradicating such forms of disease. The writer has heard terrible descriptions given of the agony produced, and equally revolting has been the picture of the filth employed by this unqualified horse doctor. While, however, the course which has been mentioned is reprobated, our heaviest condemnation should alight upon those persons who could so violate the sacredness of their trusts as to surrender any creature to the torments of so horrible a remedy.

In poll evil, the only certainty reposes on the knife. When properly employed, the operation is brief; the temporary agony bears no proportion to the years of subsequent relief thereby secured. To be properly employed, however, it should be used as though the person invested with it was, for the time, divested of all feeling. He who accepts it must think only upon what he is about to perform, and must summon resolution to do it quickly. In surgery, hesitation is positive cruelty; the knife, to be curative, should be gracefully moved through the living flesh. All notching and hacking are tortures, and worse than folly; the blade should sweep through the substance; and, to prevent the struggles of the quadruped from interfering with the intentions of the surgeon, all that will be necessary is for some person to sit upon the cheek of the prostrated animal.

FISTULOUS WITHERS.

This disease, in its chief characteristics, closely resembles poll evil. It, however, differs from that disorder in one fortunate particular; poll evil must come to maturity before its cure can be attempted with any hope of success. Injury to the =withers= is easiest eradicated when attacked upon its earliest appearance; both, however, in their worst periods, proceed from pus being confined, from it decomposing and its establishing numerous sinuses. When disease has reached this stage, the only certain cure is the free but skillful use of the knife.

=Fistulous withers=, in the first instance, is an injury to one of the superficial burst which nature has provided to facilitate the movement of the vertebral, points spinal under the skin. The hurt is occasioned by badly-made saddles, but more especially by the ladies' saddles. Some fair equestrians delight to feel their bodies lifted into the air, and enjoy the trivial shock of the descent; such movements, however, necessitate the weight should be leaned upon the crutch and stirrup. This kind of exercise is never indulged in by good female riders, as no saddle, however well constructed, can resist the constant strain to one side. Friction is produced; a bursa is irritated, and the animal will, under the best treatment, be rendered useless for a fortnight. Rolling in the stalls is also reported to have occasioned this affection; so likewise is the heavy hammer of the shoeing smith, intemperately employed to chastise the transient movement of an observant horse.

When first produced, the remedy is certain and easy. A swelling about the size of an egg appears near the withers, upon the off side of the body. Go up to the horse upon that side; have with you a keen-edged and sharply-pointed knife of pocket dimensions. Stand close to the animal; then impale the tumor, and, having the back of the blade toward the quadruped, cut quickly upward and outward. Mind, and stand very close to the center of the body, as the pain of this trivial operation is apt to make the creature lash out and prance. At the spot indicated a person is perfectly safe; neither hoof nor leg will touch that particular place, or even come near it. Rest one hand on the back, and by your voice reassure the startled creature.

The swelling being divided, exchange the knife for a lunar caustic case; smear over the interior well with the cautery, and all the business is over. Never, however, attempt to pass by the heels of a steed which has been pained. The animal may suspect your motives, and the hind feet of the horse are the most powerful weapons of offense and of defense. Have the creature backed from the stall ere you attempt to quit it. Subsequently keep the wound moist with the lotion composed of chloride of zinc--one grain to the ounce of water; also have the part covered with a rag, moistened with solution of tar. In nine or ten days the incision will have healed, and after the lapse of a fortnight the animal may return to its ordinary employment.

Should this remedy be neglected, pus is soon formed within the enlargement, and the formation is accompanied by swelling, heat, and pain. The horse is useless, and continues thus till the affection is eradicated. The animal cannot wear a collar; it cannot endure a saddle; at length numerous holes are formed upon the enlargement. These are the mouths of so many sinuses, and from each exudes a foul discharge. The poor quadruped evidently suffers greatly; it will almost stand still and starve rather than brave agony by violent motion.

The only remedy is by operation; make an incision so as to embrace the greatest number of holes. Then cut from the other openings into the main channel; this done, have the sides of the wound held back, while the center of corruption is cleaned out. Such is a very filthy and unpleasant office; if the bones are affected, all the diseased parts must be removed. When slight, the tainted portions may be scraped away; when of long standing, the spines of the vertebræ have been sundered with the saw and thus taken from the body. At any risk, none but healthy bone must be suffered to remain; all discolored or white portions of the bony structure must be extirpated, and none but that which, is of a healthy pink color suffered to continue. If a particle of unhealthy, osseous growth is left behind, the wound may close, but it will break out again, and the disease become as bad as ever.

The cleansing being accomplished, apply the cloth over the wound, and keep wet with the lotion formerly directed to be used.

Sometimes the sinuses will take a dangerous direction, and, favored by the action of the shoulder, will burrow from the withers to the chest or elbow. Then the knife cannot be employed. Should a pipe incline to this course, but be of comparatively short extent, insert a little bichloride of mercury down the channel. This is best done by powdering some of the salt. Dip the elastic probe, which has recently been down the sinus, into the powder. Reinsert it, and continue to repeat this action till all the bichloride is expended.

If the sinus should have run its entire course, but not have found an exit below, then employ a long guarded seton needle, such as can be purchased at all veterinary instrument makers. Insert this in its guarded state, and, having pushed it as far as it will go, give, upon the end of the handle, a moderately sharp blow; this will force out the cutting edge and drive the point through the flesh. Pass a long tape, with a knot at the further end of it, through the opening near the point, and withdraw the instrument, leaving the tape in after another knot has been tied at the other extremity.

Thus a seton is established, and a depending orifice is instituted. The tape will act as a drain to the morbid secretion, while the irritation produced by it will also remove the callous lining of the pipe. A healthy action will thereby be established; and so soon as the inferior wound discharges a full stream of thick, creamy pus, the seton may be cut out, with a conviction that its office is fulfilled.

However, never turn animals afflicted with fistulous withers or with poll evil out to grass. In the last disease, the motion of the head, the outstretching of the neck, and movement of the jaws occasion agony; and in the first instance, the necessity for perpetual action entails so much misery as soon renders the life worthless. The horse which is not worth the best of food in the best of stables, should not be doomed to a life of starvation and of torture. It is the shame of society that rich men are tempted by a few pounds to dispose of the creature which has been maimed in their service. Wounds endured when obeying the wishes of the master should endear the slave unto his lord. In the case of the willing steed, the law is reversed. The owner blemishes; and instead of nursing the wounded life, he disposes of it. The injured animal is sold to the first purchaser for so much as the damaged article will fetch.

FISTULOUS PAROTID DUCT.

This is a most serious evil, rather than a quickly-killing disease. The animal which is thus afflicted may endure for years; but each meal consumed and each day survived rates as a period of misery. When it is considered how much the happiness of the lower order of beings depends on merely feeding and living, it will be at once apparent how much the horse has lost when all enjoyment has departed from eating; when mere existence is embittered by being a prolongation of the suffering. The digestion becomes deranged, because the saliva, or a valuable secretion imperative to the proper performance of the function, is absent; while every movement is a pain occasioned by the agony of a diseased stomach and the anguish attendant upon a fistulous sore. The wretched creature, in this condition, speedily becomes an object of disgust to the most humane master; and, according to the convenient morality of modern times, is therefore sold to the highest bidder. Purchased only for the work which remains in the carcass, a fearful doom lies before the sick and debilitated quadruped. It rapidly sinks lower and lower, at each stage of its descent the food growing more scanty as the labor becomes more exhausting.

The =parotid duct= is the tube by which the saliva secreted by the gland is, during the act of mastication, conveyed into the mouth and mingled with the food. The parotid gland lies at the spot where the neck joins the jaw; within the interior of that body numerous fine hollow vessels connect and unite. These at each junction become larger and fewer in number, till at length they all terminate in one channel, which is the duct immediately about to be considered. It leaves the gland and travels for some space upon the inner side of the jaw; after which it curls under the inferior border of the bone and runs in front of the large masseter muscle of the horse's cheek.

Its injury is frequently occasioned by hay-seeds or particles of food, during the process of comminution, entering the open mouth of the duct; these, subsequently becoming swollen, prevent the free egress of the saliva. The secretion, nevertheless, goes forward and accumulates within the tube, which it greatly distends. A confined secretion produces the most exquisite agony. The motion of the jaw stimulates the gland to pour forth its fluid; thus every mouthful which the animal is forced to eat not only is the cause of suffering, but likewise occasions additional pressure to a channel already enlarged to bursting, and which at length bursts.

Another provocative is calculus, or stone, which is sometimes taken from the cheeks of horses, they being of enormous comparative magnitude; the natural tube would not admit a pea. Concretions have been removed from this narrow passage as large as a pullet's egg. Such an obstacle not only impedes the flow of saliva, but produces additional anguish by the distention it occasions, and by the hinderance so hard a substance offers to every motion of the animal jaw during the necessary period of mastication.

Every puncture made into the substance of the duct, and every rupture of the canal, speedily becomes fistulous sores. The saliva constantly pours through the opening thus instituted; the healing process is thereby prevented, and the edges of the wound rapidly become callous. It is, however, painful to be obliged to state that the stable fork, in the hand of an intemperate groom, is the instrument by which these punctures are too frequently occasioned.

Gentlemen when engaging people to attend upon their animals should always be very particular concerning temper. An irritable person, however smart he may appear, is obviously disqualified for such an occupation. A man of an evil temper should never be engaged. Still, the great majority of present grooms are rather conspicuous for an exuberance of conceit, than remarkable for any openness of countenance. Smartness may gratify the pride of the master; but it is difficult to comprehend in what manner it possibly can benefit his horse.

There is an old proverb which, being "the condensed wisdom of ages," teaches that "the master's eye fattens the steed." Most of modern masters dislike nothing so much as trouble. The stable is given over to the servant. No Eastern despot is so absolute as the groom in his dominions: he kicks and abuses its inhabitants at his pleasure. If the free exercise of his will occasions injury, a lie is easily invented and readily believed by the lazy superior. All that comes into or passes out of the building pays toll to the invested ruler. Five per cent. is levied upon the hay and corn merchant; the dung is sold as a legitimate perquisite; the bills of the harness and the coach makers are taxed one shilling in the pound by the most ignorant groom, and often much higher by the properly initiated. Thus the idle man pays dearly for his ease. There is no luxury so expensive as a want of wholesome energy.

The process of mastication causes the saliva to be secreted. At each motion of the jaw it is squirted forth with violence; every drop of the fluid passes through the false opening--no portion finds its way into the mouth. The running of the stream down the cheek wears away the hair, while the absence of a valuable constituent toward perfect digestion occasions the diet not to nourish the body. The animal loses flesh, and quickly assumes a miserable appearance, which makes the proprietor long to rid his sight of so pitiable an object.

The cure for this disease was aptly illustrated by Mr. Gowing, the excellent veterinary surgeon of Camden Town. That gentleman made an adhesive fluid, by either saturating the strongest spirit of wine with gum mastic, or dissolving India-rubber in sulphuric ether. Then, when the horse was not eating, he pared off the hardened edges of the wound till blood issued therefrom. He subsequently allowed the bleeding to stop, and placed over the orifice a piece of strained India-rubber. Over that he put a thin layer of cotton; fastened one end of the cotton to the hair of the cheek by means of the adhesive preparation. That being dry, he tightened the cotton and glued down the opposite extremity. Next he attached another layer of cotton, and subsequently another. Afterward he fastened more cotton, some of it crossways; and, having added as many layers as would make a good body, saturates the whole with the adhesive solution before alluded to.

The hair affords a good ground to which any other substance can be fastened; but it is rendered better by being thoroughly washed with soft soap and warm water. The ablution deprives the skin of the horse of its naturally unctuous secretion, and permits the adhesive application a better chance.

The horse should be allowed no food which necessitates mastication. The head should be fastened to the pillar-reins during the process of cure. Thin gruel only should be presented while treatment is progressing, and that should be continued until the covering falls off. Should the wound not be healed, allow a couple of days to elapse; but give no solid food. Permit the horse to rest on refuse tan--not straw, which might be eaten--during all this time. Afterward renew the attempt, and repeat it again if necessary--though the first trial generally succeeds.

Before concluding, it may be well to arm the reader against those practices generally adopted by horse doctors. These practices consist in the use of the red-hot budding iron, which is among them a very popular application to a =fistulous parotid duct=. The theory which induces this resort is, a belief that the heated iron induces an eschar, and the wound closes before the crust falls off. Red-hot iron is, however, far more disposed to destroy substance than to favor growth; and, probably, its curative properties could have gained faith among no other class. Possibly there exists no other body which would credit that, to burn a hole larger, was the best way to close it. Another artifice is to inject caustic lotions up the duct, and thereby occasion the gland to slough out. Against such cruelty the author is pleased to think little need be said. The operation, when successful, causes so much irritation as endangers the life; for the body of the gland is permeated by so many and such important vessels as render the termination always very dubious.

PHLEBITIS, OR INFLAMMATION OF THE VEIN.

Formerly it was the custom to bleed horses for everything and for nothing. It was not even suspected that a creature which exists only to labor unto the limit of possibility is far more likely to be the victim of debility than of repletion. It never occurred to any master that his wretched animal wanted blood putting into it rather than abstracting the smallest quantity of blood from it. However, formerly bleeding was a favorite resort with the apothecary, and the old veterinary surgeon seems to have followed the bad example. Aged people have informed the writer that they remember the time when, on a Sunday morning, a long shed was filled with agricultural horses standing in a row. These victims were all waiting to be bled. The veterinary surgeon's assistant used to take the fleam, and to open a vein in the first animal's neck. Then he would proceed to the second; and thus, in turn, he would open the jugulars of the entire number. No account was taken of the quantity of blood lost; that flowed forth till the last had been operated upon, when all the creatures stood simultaneously draining forth their lives.

The veterinary surgeon's assistant subsequently returned, and pinned up the orifice of the first horse; then he went and performed that office for the succeeding animal. Thus he, a second time, progressed down the row, pinning up as he proceeded; and the poor horses often tottered before he came. All this was done for a human fancy: man thought the loss of blood, at spring and autumn, beneficial to all kinds of life. The writer has heard of old ladies who were very skillful in bleeding cats. Most cats, however, resist such an application of medical talent; not so the horse: this animal submits itself patiently to the master's will. The creature seems to recognize that it has no right to exist except by the permission of its owner. There is no living being which acknowledges so abject a dependence.

In return it is made a sport of the idlest whims. Hence horses, after bleeding, were all thought to be much benefited. They were expected to perform greater labor and to continue in sounder health. In vain did the disease visit the stable more frequently; to no purpose was diminished capability displayed. The ungrateful bodies of the "plaguy beasts" were blamed, which would go wrong even after mortal science had expended its wealth upon them. Man never doubted his own wisdom; he never questioned his own conduct; and it is astonishing the quantity of prejudice which is from year to year perpetuated for the want of a small amount of so cheap an article as mental inquiry.

The worst of the evil still remains to be told. The creatures, being bled, were esteemed so greatly benefited as to require no subsequent attention. =Phlebitis= was consequently, in other days, a rather common affection. If neglected, the disease may terminate in death. In cases aggravated by mistaken measures, the disorder mounts to the brain, and occasions awful agonies. Taken early and properly administered to, this disposition is easily arrested. It was formerly wrongly treated, and was traced to an erroneous origin. Phlebitis was, to the perfect satisfaction of learned judges seated on the bench, attributed to the surgeon's want of care. So serious an evil was imagined to be caused by culpable neglect during a trivial operation. It was thought to have been provoked by the use of a foul instrument, or by employing anything else to strike a fleam than a properly-made blood-stick.

Experiments, however, which were instituted at the Royal Veterinary College, have proved that no want of care, during the performance of bleeding, can provoke the disorder. Wretched horses, in that establishment, have been punctured with dirty, rusty, blunt, and jagged fleams; all manner of blood-sticks have been employed in every description of way. These have been struck violently and tapped in the gentlest fashion. Every possible sort of pinning up has been adopted; but the utmost endeavor of intentional perversion could not produce inflammation of the vein. There appears to be only one ascertained cause: that is, bleed; do not tie up the head, but turn it into a field, or present fodder to be eaten off the ground, and the animal will have phlebitis. The pendulous position of the head and the motion of the jaws alone seem capable of starting inflammation in the jugular vein. Therefore, should the reader ever permit a horse to be bled--which, save in extreme cases, is perfectly unnecessary--let him remember to place the animal subsequently in the stable, to tie the halter to the rack for twenty-four hours, and, during the same space, to abstain from allowing any food. These injunctions, however, do not refer to the bleedings sometimes adopted to counteract acute disease.

There is one circumstance which should always be well considered before any horse is bled: Certain animals have a constitutional predisposition toward this peculiar form of disease. The horse whose vein shall inflame no man can, by sign, mark, or investigation, pick from a herd. It is, however, an ascertained fact that particular animals, of no fixed breed, and apparently characterized by no recognized state of body, have a mighty tendency to exhibit this particular disorder. The horse may appear unexceptionable as regards health; but, nevertheless, strike it with a fleam or puncture it with a lancet, and phlebitis will undoubtedly be generated; none of the usual precautions can _always_ prevent the misfortune. Such predisposition evidently depends on a determinate condition of system which science has hitherto failed to recognize.

This fact, or eccentricity in the constitutions of isolated horses, ought to be generally known. Men have recovered heavy damages in courts of law, and blameless veterinary surgeons have been ruined, by circumstances over which the utmost stretch of human precaution could possibly exercise no control. However, a more extended knowledge concerning the real origin of this disorder may do some good, since it will guard juries from delivering wrongful verdicts, and may tend to check that love of venous depletion which is still too prevalent with ignorant horse owners.

There was formerly a great diversity of opinion concerning a supposed eccentricity in the facts observed during this disease. If a horse was bled in the neck, and subsequently exhibited phlebitis, the brain became affected. If an animal was depleted from the fore leg, and displayed the disease, the heart became involved. In one case, the disorder proceeded from the center of circulation; and in the other, it mounted directly toward the organ. A great many hypotheses were published to explain or to account for this imaginary peculiarity. Much nonsense was spoken, and more was written, to point out the real cause of an imaginary difference. Yet, calmly viewed, the seeming diversity appears to agree with the commonest law of nature. Phlebitis always closes the vessel at the seat of injury. The disease, therefore, in each case, is prevented from descending, and consequently ascends above the orifice--the only peculiarity being the relative situations of the structures involved.

This affection is most common after blood has been taken from the neck. That seeming preference for a particular part may, however, be nothing more than a circumstance dependent upon the greater number of animals which have their jugulars opened. Were the brachial or the saphena veins punctured as frequently as the vessel which carries the blood from the brain, the apparent difference might appear in the opposite direction. However, from whichever vessel the depletion is effected, always tie the quadruped's head up, and present no food. A stall is to be preferred to a loose box, as the confined space is more likely to prevent action. Motion is the source of all danger. This fact was aptly illustrated by an anecdote which used to be related by the late Mr. Liston, the eminent surgeon. In his lecture, that gentleman surprised his class by stating that the last person whom he bled perished of phlebitis. Bleeding is the most simple operation in human surgery. Most surgeons leave this office to the apothecary; consequently it was rather a condescension in one who deservedly ranked so high in his profession to stoop to such an act. What, therefore, could possibly cause disease to follow the operation, when performed by him who was accustomed to surgery upon its grandest scale?

The cause was soon explained. The person operated upon chanced to be a lunatic. This insane individual embraced the notion that the healing process was much favored by constant motion; consequently he kept on flexing and extending his arm with all the violence which is natural to the demented. In vain was every effort made to persuade him from so mad an action. He clung with extraordinary pertinacity to his unwholesome theory. On the following day, Mr. Liston was surprised to find his patient in bed, but still moving the arm in which disease had already declared itself. Measures were taken to keep the limb quiet, but it was found impossible to accomplish this in a satisfactory manner; and when Mr. Liston again called, the patient was no more!

A vein being about to inflame, the earliest intimation of the fact is given by the separation of the lips of the wound, while through the opening drains a small quantity of a thin discharge. Should this warning excite no attention, a round and hard swelling appears. That may be like a hazel-nut in size, or it may resemble half a chestnut in magnitude; and this is soon followed by a swollen state of the vein superior to the orifice.

Then supervenes the second stage of the disorder. Unhealthy abscesses are formed along the course of the vein. As these mature, they burst, and send forth an unsightly and filthy liquid resembling thin, contaminated pus. On examination, these tumors are found to be united. They penetrate to the interior of the vessel, and are joined together by numerous sinuses. They literally constitute so many holes in the neck.

If no attention be now paid to the aggravated symptoms, worse speedily ensues. In the direction formerly indicated the vessel feels hard under the skin. Supposing this sign to be neglected, unhealthy pus issues in quantity from the wounds and soils the neck. This secretion is soon converted into a dark, impure, and fetid discharge resembling decayed blood. The horse grows dull and stupid; the inflammation ultimately affects the brain, when the suffering and the life are extinguished in the violent agonies of phrenitis.

The cure is easy, but everything depends upon the energy of him who undertakes it. When the lips of the wound which have been brought together by means of the twisted suture--as the "pin with tow wrapped round it" is professionally termed--display a tendency to separate, and, instead of being dry, appear moist, let no prejudice incline toward the ancient practice of fomenting and poulticing the injury. Without the loss of a moment in hesitation, withdraw the pin; remove the substance which was twined round it, and apply a moderate-sized blister immediately over and around the puncture. Should the disease have ascended up the neck, still rub in a blister; only a proportionate amount of surface must then be acted upon. If the case be as bad as possible, and yet the animal is alive, still a blister is indicated.

With the progress of the disease a larger space should always be subjected to irritation, so as to cover every part the most active imagination could suppose to be involved. One blister, moreover, will not suffice; another, and another, and another must be employed, till every sign of disorder has vanished. They must, however, be applied in quicker succession as the symptoms are more urgent, while a greater interval may be allowed between each when the affection is less serious. In the worst stage of phlebitis, another blister must be put over the part upon which the irritation of the first has not entirely ceased to act. In the second stage, the surface must have been barely healed before another vesicatory is resorted to. During the primary symptom, a single application frequently is sufficient; or, at most, two blisters generally suffice.

When the vessel assumes the corded state, a blister can effect no more than to check the progress of the disorder; no agency, however, which science has placed at the disposal of man can restore the uses of the vein. The vessel is lost, and lost forever. If a foul and black discharge issue from the openings, insert a director and enlarge the wounds, joining the holes by slitting up the sinuses which unite them; but do not cut the entire extent of the hardened vessel, as in that case you may be deluged in blood. The employment of the knife and the free use of blisters constitute the chief means toward the cure of phlebitis. The sinuses must be laid open. The probe should then be most patiently employed, for every sinus _must_ be slit up. This may be done at once, when the hardness indicates the vessel to be closed above the part which the incision interferes with. To such an extent the knife may always be employed, while blisters after blisters are used, regardless of the severe wounds over which they are applied.

Much relief is afforded by the large and pendulous incision, through which the corruption freely finds an exit. Some horses, however, from the pain occasioned by the raw and inflamed condition of the neck, will not allow the blister to be rubbed in after the ordinary fashion, especially when the irritation caused by the former application has not thoroughly subsided. In cases of this sort, do not employ the twitch or resort to greater restraints. Exercise your reason. Regard the painful aspect of the wounds. Ask yourself how you should enjoy the hard hand of a groom violently scrubbed over such a part, were the soreness upon your own body. Act upon the response. Procure a long-haired brush, such as pastry-cooks use to egg over their more delicate manufactures. Go then into the next stall. Speak kindly to a sick inferior that is at your mercy. Have the creature led forth, and, with the brush just described, smear the part with oil of cantharides or liquid blister. The extract of the Spanish fly does not occasion immediate agony, and the application of oil will cool or soothe the anger of the wounds.

With the jugular vein inflamed, the horse, during the period of treatment, should consume no solid food. Hay tea, sloppy mashes, and well-made gruel should constitute its diet. However, the gruel must not be given in such quantities or made so thick as the same substance would be allowed to a healthy horse. Gruel may not be very sustaining to the human being, but it is nothing more than the oat divested of the shell or refuse part. To the equine species such food, whether given dry or boiled in water, is highly stimulating; and, as fever invariably accompanies inflammation, oats in any form evidently are contraindicated. Should the animal, however, become ravenous, a portion of potatoes, being first peeled, may be boiled to a mash. Some water and a sufficiency of pollard ought to be added, and the whole presented in such a state as requires no mastication, but in a condition that will allow the mixture to be drawn between the teeth. The same thing may be done with carrots and with turnips, only all mashed roots, except potatoes, should be passed through a colander, and moistened with some of the water in which they are boiled.

Any animal, during treatment, should be placed in a loose box. No creature should be turned into the field. It is cheaper to pasture than to stable a horse; but the constant motion of the legs, as the field is traversed, is injurious to the punctured vein of the limbs, while the pendulous state of the head and the perpetual movement of the jaws are most prejudicial when venesection has been performed upon the neck. The stable is, in every point of view, the cheapest and the best residence. The head of the animal must be tied to the rack throughout the day; while, at night, the halter may be lengthened, permitting the creature to lie down; but the floor should be littered with tan, as straw might be eaten.

Let the horse remain thus for six weeks subsequent to the completion of a cure. Then give gentle exercise to the extent which it can be borne--the quantity being small, and the pace very slow at first, but gradually augmented. This exercise should be maintained for three months. The animal may afterward return to slow work; but if the neck is the place affected, it must not wear a collar or be harnessed to the shafts for the next six months. At the end of that time the horse may return to its customary employment; but, if ridden or driven, it is always well to bear in mind the late affliction, and to grant more than the usual time for the performance of the journey. At the expiration of the year, the smaller veins, having become enlarged, have adapted themselves to the loss which the circulation has sustained, and the horse may resume full work.

For the first year, gruel, crushed and scalded oats, with two bundles of cut grass per day, should constitute the diet. The manger should be heightened, and the halter be so arranged as to prevent the head being much lowered. Do all in your power to render useless violent mastication; and, as the horse never chews when the operation is unnecessary, the animal will obviously second your endeavors.

At the expiration of twelve months the animal which has lost a vein may be sold, and, _in law_, has been accounted sound. Such a blemish, however, is far from a recommendation; in this case law and common sense may be at variance. The reader, therefore, is advised never to purchase a nag in such a condition without insisting upon a special warranty, in which it is provided that the animal is to be taken back should the loss of a vessel be productive of any evil effects within the space of one twelvemonth.

BROKEN KNEES.

These accidents affect the exterior of the central joint of the fore legs. They may be very trivial or very serious: they may simply ruffle the hair or scratch the cuticle covering the integument; the same cause may, however, remove the hair and lay bare the cutis. Moreover, the wound is often aggravated by the nature of the road on which the animal is traveling. A fall upon a very rough surface might even destroy a portion of the skin, and deprive more or less of the cellular tissue of vitality.

Accompanying such accidents there is generally some amount of contusion. When it falls, the horse is in motion, and the impetus lends violence to the descent. Probably the animal is being ridden when it comes to the ground. The weight of the blow is not only then proportioned to the heavy body of the horse and the rate at which it is progressing, but its effect is augmented by the load upon its back. These considerations render =broken knees= the proper dread of every horse proprietor. An animal may stumble and come down which, prior to the mishap, would have been sold cheap for several hundreds. It may be raised from the ground with almost all its worth demolished. The nature of the hurt is not, however, always shown at first. The chief danger, in broken knees, lies in the accompanying contusion. The horse which rises without a hair ruffled, but which fell with violence, is always, with informed persons, a cause of considerable anxiety. Contusion is to be more dreaded in its consequences than is the largest wound when devoid of anything approaching to a bruise.

The reason why contusion is thus gravely regarded is because, when that occurs in severity, the vitality of all the coverings to the knee is destroyed, and, in very bad cases, even the bones are materially injured. All dead parts must be cast from a living body; and no man can predicate how deep may be the injury, or how important may be the structures which shall be opened, when the slough takes place.

Proprietors of horses thus injured are commonly very earnest in their solicitations for a professional opinion as to the extent and probable consequences of the accident. No certain judgment can, however, be pronounced, nor should one be given. Any surgical calculation, notwithstanding it may be most prudently qualified, is apt to be misconstrued by the anxiety of distress. The most guarded hint at a probability of recovery is too likely to be seized upon as a positive guarantee of perfect restoration; and the possible evils which may have been alluded to, confusion causes the individual not to remember. Therefore silence is wisdom in these cases, however slight the broken knee may appear in the first instance.

Broken knees are principally caused by the imprudence of him in whom authority is invested. Certain people imagine the public admire the man who chastises a horse. Such persons slash away for every trivial error. Every imaginary fault is punished with the whip, which too often curls around parts that should be respected. The animal, pained and frightened, thinks only of the slasher behind it, and entirely disregards the path upon which its eyes should be directed. The cutting is incessant, and the horse's pace is incautiously fast. An impediment is encountered; the animal trips; it is cast to the ground with violence, while the man is probably rendered fitter for a hospital than for the continuance of his travels.

Other riders and drivers always visit with severity the slightest indication of weak limbs. A sudden drop or a false step is, to such people, the signal for the reins to be jagged, the voice to be raised, and the whip to be freely exercised upon all parts of the animal's body, but mostly about the face and ears. The man likes to behold the poor creature shake its head, and loves to imagine he is then teaching the terrified quadruped to be careful. Equine pupils, no more than human scholars, are to be tutored by barbarity, which may slay the reason long before it can instruct the mind. Composure is imperative to the acquirement of any knowledge. Thrashing calls forth terror, and alarm is synonymous with confusion of mind. The horse is susceptible of a fear which humanity, happily, finds it difficult to conceive; and how far such a creature is calculated to be educated by cruelty, the intelligent reader is left to infer.

Could the animal argue, it might plead that the weakness objected to was caused by exertion made in man's service; that the stumbling gait was consequent upon no negligence on its part; that it afforded the beaten wretch no pleasure to have the knees broken, but, if the quadruped might profess a choice, it would prefer not falling down, etc. etc. If such pleas were properly considered, they perhaps might still the turbulence of the punisher.

The great majority of these injuries are consequent upon the prejudice or thoughtlessness of mankind. Popular admiration is, in this country, much in favor of a good crest. Every animal, no matter how nature may have formed the neck, must carry a good head. The rider, therefore, drags upon the bridle, while the form of nearly every gentleman's harness-horse is distorted by the bearing-rein. The constraint thus enforced not only obliges additional muscular action, but it disqualifies the animal to see the ground. In England there should be no objection to a blind horse, since such of the species as have eyes are, by the prejudices of society, seldom permitted to use them. The horse, being urged on when virtually blindfold, must of necessity stumble upon any unusual impediment being encountered. Such an accident shows no fault in the quadruped; but the man is truly responsible for those consequences which his folly has induced.

When a horse stumbles, never raise your voice--the creature dreads its master's chiding; never jag the reins--the mouth of the horse is far more sensitive than the human lips; never use the lash--the horse is so timid that the slightest correction overpowers its reasoning faculties. Speak to the creature; reassure the palpitating frame; seek to restore those perceptions which will form the best guard against any repetition of the faulty action. When the legs are weak, the greater should be the care of him who holds the reins. No cruelty can restore the lost tonicity of the limbs; therefore all slashing is utterly thrown away. If the reader regard his own safety, let him not, when riding, hold the head up, or, when driving, sanction the employment of a bearing-rein. No inhumanity can convert an animal with a ewe neck into the creature with a naturally lofty crest. The disguise of such a defect as a head badly placed on the neck is an impossibility. Therefore, if you are desirous of a well-carried head, think of it when making the purchase. Pay something more, and any kind of quadruped is obtainable; but be above the meanness which purchases for a low figure, and then endeavors to palm off its cheap article as a jewel procured at the highest price.

When a horse has been down, never judge of the injury by the first appearance. While the animal stands in the yard, order the groom to fetch a pail, with milk-warm water and a large sponge. With these he is to clean the knees--not after the usual coarse and filthy fashion now universal; not by first sopping the part, and then squeezing the soiled sponge into the pail whence more fluid is to be abstracted. The dabbing and smearing a wound simply irritates it; and the dirt, having all entered into the pail, the fluid is rendered unsuited to after cleanly purposes.

To perform the office properly, the knee should not be touched. The sponge should be saturated, then squeezed dry above the seat of injury. The water thus flows in a full stream over the part, and, by the force of gravity, carries away any loose dirt that may be upon the surface. Sopping, dabbing, wiping, and smearing occasion pain, and can remove nothing which may have entered the skin and which is protected from the action of the sponge by a covering of hair; whereas by the plan recommended the dirt is removed, the part is not debilitated, neither is its natural energy destroyed. The last drop of water, moreover, is as clean as was the first, and the animal is not irritated immediately prior to a surgical examination.

The wound being cleansed, a certain time should be allowed to elapse for the horse to recover its composure. It should return to the stable, have a feed of corn, and be watered. Then the real business commences. The animal should be gently approached; its condition should be observed. If any nervousness is exhibited, the person ought to retire, and a further pause should be allowed. If, on the second visit, any unusual symptoms are displayed, have the quadruped led into the yard and blindfolded. Let a man take up the other fore leg, when the knee may be examined with safety.

Place the palm of the hand over the joint. Hold it there to ascertain if any heat or swelling is to be detected. Should there be swelling, make gradual and gentle pressure upon it with the thumb or one finger. If, upon suddenly removing the hand, an indent is conspicuous, it argues considerable effusion, and justifies fear as to the result. Should neither heat nor swelling be remarked, further pressure is to be made with the thumb upon the knee. The force should be gentle at first and gradually increased. If the action is sustained well, or even moderately endured, it allows of hope being entertained. But should the horse attempt to rear upon the first impress of the thumb, the result is very dubious. The absence of agony is far from anything approaching to a positive proof, as bone and synovial membrane, tendon and ligament, do not take on acute inflammation when first injured; but, from the response thus elicited, a fair inference as to the probability may be drawn.

Should the skin be lacerated, the probe must be employed. Such injuries are very deceptive. They may be much more extensive than the size of the wound would indicate. The probe being of metal, ought not to be thrust violently against every exposed part. This kind of proceeding can effect no good. The probe should be held lightly between the thumb and fore finger; no pressure should be made upon it--the instrument ought rather to fall of its own gravity than be forced into the flesh. A thin piece of wire can be readily driven into soft structures; but where an actual division exists, no opposition necessitating force will be encountered.

Broken knees always happen when the horse is in motion. The onward impulse is not by the fall immediately destroyed; but after the horse is down there always exists an impetus which has a tendency to propel the body forward. Should the skin of the knees be divided by the fall, the after-force obviously cannot affect the upper line of such division; but the lower edge of skin will present an acute obstacle to the roughened ground, and will, by the grating of the body, in all probability be rent from its attachments. When the animal rises, the action and the elasticity natural to the integument will occasion the torn portion of the skin which has been driven backward to once more assume its original position. By this means a kind of bag or purse is formed upon the knee. Grit, mud, and all kinds of impurities may be retained and concealed within this pouch. These will be disposed to irritate the structure with which they are in contact; suppuration is certain to be established, and sad consequences have followed such sacs not being early detected.

Such a cavity having been discovered, the next object is to ascertain its dimensions. That is done by gradually moving the probe along its sides. Should it be small, it will be sufficient that a hole be made through its most depending portion with a sharp seton needle. If it be large, the needle should be armed with a piece of tape knotted at one end. The sac being punctured, the needle is to be drawn through the opening, the tape being left in the cavity, and a seton is thus formed. The seton should be knotted at the other end, and moved its entire length every night and morning. It will prevent all premature attempts to heal, will stimulate the soft parts to suppuration, and will remove the dirt, as the tape affords a guide to the secretion. When inserting a seton into the knee, always use a large curved needle. The size of the instruments should never be regulated by any foreign standard, but should always be proportioned to the magnitude of the patient and the intention of the operator.

Three days subsequent to the full establishment of suppuration, cut off one of the knots, and, laying hold of the other knot, withdraw the seton. Its advantages by this time are gained, and its longer stay, by hardening the opening through which it passed, would occasion lasting blemish.

The reason of its insertion is thus explained. Where foreign matter is confined, no wound will heal; the orifice may close, but soon after abscess forms. This process is repeated until the suffering is long protracted. Danger is generally proportioned to the duration of the evil, where wounds not of a mortal character are concerned. By the agency of the seton, the foreign matter is removed and the healing process thereby considerably expedited. After the above plan, all blemish may be lost by the expiration of the third month, and the once injured knee restored to its uses, being as fine as any other part of the body.

Everything being accomplished as it is here directed, no attempt must in the first instance be made to poke out any particle of dirt which the probe may touch. The bagging skin being divided by the seton having been established in the sac, no further thought need, for the present, be given to a common but most vexatious attendant upon the customary treatment for broken knees.

The animal should be returned to its usual stall and have the head "racked up." Some cold water should then be procured, with every quart of which two ounces of tincture of arnica should be blended. A portion of this fluid ought, with a clean sponge of moderate size, to be poured into a saucer; the groom must have strict orders to take the sponge, and, having saturated it with the fluid, to squeeze it quite dry, allowing the liquor to run over the injured knee--after the manner previously illustrated, as washing the wound. Two men are required for this office, which should be performed every half hour throughout the day and night for half a week. The injury being thus made continuously wet, the cold produced by evaporation keeps down inflammation, while the arnica is a potent remedy for bruises and all kinds of contusions or lacerations.

If at the expiration of the period named no swelling appears, and suppuration seems to be thoroughly established by means of the seton, the halter may be released to a great extent, a cradle being merely fixed upon the horse's neck; the animal will thereby be permitted to lie down and to enjoy its natural rest.

But should the joint be much enlarged, should the part have become acutely sensitive, while the horse resolutely refuses to bear any weight upon the injured limb, then withdraw the seton, give the animal two pots of stout per day, and all the oats mingled with old beans which it will consume. Untie the head and place the horse in slings; employ the arnica lotion night and day, until the slough is thrown off, which, having taken place, change the liquid application for the solution of chloride of zinc--one scruple to the pint of water--and continue to employ this last lotion after precisely the same manner as has been previously directed.

Probabilities, however remote they may seem to be, are here endeavored to be anticipated; although the author's experience cannot recall a single case where the arnica lotion has been used with proper assiduity, and any but the most happy results have followed. When an animal has fallen violently to the earth, and has been, in the first instance, shown to the writer with much tumefaction and excessive tenderness, a slough has in exceptional cases followed; but never has the enlargement or the sensitiveness increased under the proper use of the arnica lotion. The slough, moreover, in such instances, has been superficial, only entailing loss of hair, and never occasioning open joint.

All horses are exposed to these accidents for the reasons already stated. Whenever such misfortunes occur, employ the arnica lotion. Should the skin be divided, still use the arnica lotion until copious suppuration is established. The secretion once seen, resort to the lotion formed of chloride of zinc and water--one grain to the ounce--which operates most marvelously upon all suppurating wounds.

No absolute period can be stated which a case of broken knees, when severe, ought to occupy. The danger, however, is generally passed by the expiration of a week, and the cure commonly entails loss of services for a couple of months.

When adopting the foregoing mode of treatment, no bandages are to be employed. Such wrappers only augment the heat inherent in every species of inflammation. They dam up the pus and speedily become foul and offensive rags; cleanliness is one of the primary requisites toward good surgery.

No caustics of any kind are imperative or even necessary. The two lotions, if used with proper zeal, will accomplish all that can be desired. The arnica lotion should, however, be in all cases applied night and day during the early stage; the chloride of zinc lotion ought to be employed only during the time man is usually out of bed.

The wound, in ordinary cases, should not be washed or touched. Should proud flesh start up, such is positive proof of the negligence of the groom, whose duty it was to apply the chloride of zinc lotion. If the mode of treatment here laid down be strictly pursued, the author can with confidence promise a satisfactory and a speedy cure. To enforce the value of the measures recommended, the portraits of two knees, which were subjected to the opposite processes, have been presented. Both were copied from living subjects in the sixth week after the misfortune had occurred.

OPEN SYNOVIAL CAVITIES.

The primary cause of these fearful accidents is the pride of mankind; gentility is always striving to impose upon credulity. It loves to be mistaken for something better than it really is. After all, this vice of society is nothing more than the child's game of "Lords and Ladies," played by grown-up persons. A horse having a naturally defective neck is obtained; no barbarity is too abhorrent to repress the hope of making people believe the steed thus deformed is a creature of extremest value. The animal, if ridden, has the chin pulled in close to the neck; if driven, the free carriage of the body is prevented by the cruel bearing-rein. The horse progresses in agony, while gentility sits smiling at the result of its artifice. The horse cannot see the ground before it, because of the constraint imposed upon the head; it cannot fix attention upon its duty, because of the agony which the cunning of gentility inflicts upon the lips. The pace is always rapid; the action is high as in the case of blindness; and the animal generally comes to the earth with violence. The skin upon the knees is divided, and the structures beneath are penetrated. One or more =synovial sheaths= are opened, while the cavities formed by the junction of the separate bones may be lacerated.

Sheath or joint may not be immediately opened by the fall, but either may have their integrity destroyed through the slough induced by the contusion consequent upon a broken knee. Moreover, various accidents will occasionally happen--misfortune is of infinite variety. The synovial bursæ, sheaths, or cavities of the hind legs are occasionally punctured by the quadruped kicking violently while in harness. The capsule, embracing the tendon of the flexor brachii upon the point of the shoulder, has been opened by the animal drawing a vehicle being run into; or by the horse running away and coming in contact with some obstacle. Any synovial cavity within the body may be penetrated by an unfortunate combination of circumstances; or by the unbridled passion of the groom, who may have a pitchfork near at hand. So also they have been cut into by the arrogance of unskillful operators. However, it matters not how the misfortune may arise, the mode of treatment and the manner of cure is in all such cases exactly the same.

Neither, as regards the primary effect, is it of subsequent importance whether air be admitted into an opened bursa or sac, a synovial sheath, or the interior of a joint. All of these structures are formed into bladders or closed cavities. They all contain a similar secretion, which is a transparent, albuminous fluid, resembling white of egg. They all are of one use, or all serve to facilitate motion. The bursa is the smallest; the synovial sheath is the next in magnitude; and joints may be much the largest. The secondary effects are proportioned to their size, but in the first instance much constitutional disturbance will attend the opening of each.

These structures are not formed to endure the presence of atmosphere; air is admitted a short time after each displays inflammation. This creates symptoms of irritability, and air will enter before we see the wound. The secondary effect is, however, most to be dreaded. Bursæ are small bladders, or closed sacs, distributed over the body, and located wherever the natural motions possibly might originate friction. Sheaths always embrace tendons, being essentially closed sacs. The secondary effects of tendinous sheaths are so much the more to be dreaded than those attending punctured bursæ, because the last generally lie loosely between highly-organized parts; whereas a sheath is partly fixed upon a tendon, and tendon, being lowly organized, is more difficult to cure when it is diseased. However, joints are much worse than the preceding two; because in these the synovial membrane is partly spread over the cartilage, which lies upon the articular surfaces of bones. Now, cartilage is the most lowly organized substance in the entire body. When disease fixes upon it the morbid condition is so slow, so irritating, and so difficult to eradicate, that science almost despairs of the issue.

The results indicated show that every effort should be made to ward off the secondary effect. Therefore, when an accident of this nature occurs, proceed with the utmost gentleness. Having procured a large sponge and a pail of milk-warm water, saturate the sponge and squeeze it dry, above the injury. Do not touch the sore, but allow the fluid, as it gravitates, to wash off all or any foreign matter. With regard to the wound, dirt seldom enters that. When it does, the suppuration which must ensue upon the accident will more effectually remove it than could hogsheads of water, however unfeelingly it might be employed.

The part having been rendered clean, the wound is to be attentively observed. When nothing but blood or serum, or thin, discolored fluid can be seen, this argues the more important structures are entire. Should there be among, and yet distinct from, those discharges, a transparent, glairy liquid flowing forth, such is absolute proof some synovial membrane has been severed. The size of the current and the abundance of the secretion are also evidences not to be despised. Probabilities may be inferred from these circumstances. If the amount of the synovia be small, there is hope that a bursa only has been interfered with; when the amount is large, it demonstrates that either a sheath is punctured or the joint itself may have been opened. Synovial cavities between bones may be larger, and are much more active than the sheaths of tendons; therefore the magnitude of the current should be observed; although, when the integrity of many parts has been destroyed, little absolute dependence will be placed upon the comparative quantity of the synovial secretion.

Anatomy is, under the circumstances, a fair guide. Where numerous structures are involved, a well-grounded learning is requisite for accurate judgment; but as regards the knee of the horse, the spot whence the synovial discharge issues is of all importance. The incision must either be very deep and gaping, (all subjacent structures being divided before the knee-joint can be exposed,) or else the wound must affect a very circumscribed place. The reader, by consulting the above anatomical engravings of the horse's knee, will remark how closely it is laced about with tendon. Each of the tendons, when crossing the joint, is embraced in a synovial sheath. From such information, it will instantly be seen how far more likely a sheath is to be lacerated than the joint is to be punctured.

The single point where the joint could be entered without severing tendon, lies rather on one side than directly in the center. The vulnerable spot is therefore not exposed to the full force of the blow. To lay bare the joint by an ordinary fall several parts must be divided. Rarely is an accident witnessed of so fearful an extent. Generally that which is spoken of as open joint proves to be no more than punctured sheath, the presence of synovia being commonly accepted as the proof. But when the joint is really laid open, the immense flow of synovia--so many sheaths being severed--should at once prove the fact.

The probe must next be used. In the first instance it should be employed to ascertain whether the fall has left any purse or sac at the inferior part of the joint. All which was enforced respecting the use of metallic wire to a raw wound must here be observed. The probe had better be altogether discarded than employed with the smallest approach to rudeness.

The suspected sac having been discovered, a large spatula is placed below the knee. A knife with a keen point, but with the edge only sharpened for one-third of its length, is to be used. Upon the cutting point of the knife a piece of beeswax is firmly moulded. The wax answers the purpose of a temporary probe; the blade, thus guarded, is cautiously inserted beneath the loose flap of skin. When the bottom of the pouch is reached, a certain amount of resistance will be encountered; through this the knife is driven. The force cuts in twain the wax, and pushes through the integument the blade, which the spatula guides from the leg. This operation should be performed quickly; the hand should simply be carried downward, and then brought upward when all is concluded; care, however, being taken that the withdrawal of the knife does not injure any part save those it was designed to cut.

Should the horse be nervous, it is desirable to blindfold the animal and order the groom to hold up the sound leg; the creature can then only rear. When thus disabled, that movement is rendered difficult, and it is proportionably slow. The operation, if properly performed, should be over before action can be prepared for; and by the knife a considerable incision is made in the bottom of the sac, through which all grit or dirt can, with the pus, readily pass.

The examination concludes with a second resort to the probe. The instrument is in surgery of great use; but as it is commonly employed, reason may doubt whether injured life has been much benefited by its invention. It generally is raked and poked about as though the person holding it was determined, at all hazards, to ascertain the length, breadth, and every irregularity of the wound he is asked to cure; much harm is thereby done. Delicate attachments which, if not interfered with, might induce speedy reunion, are thus broken down, and the injury aggravated; while the operator thinks he ought to know all about the lesion he is to treat, and supposes that he can possibly do no harm with an instrument which the best schools order to be employed.

A good surgeon has no curiosity to gratify; all he desires to know is so much as will enable him to benefit the patient placed under his care. Therefore never abuse the probe in cases of open synovial cavities. Imagine the distance the bones are from the surface; and, if the probe can enter a very little beyond that distance, such a fact demonstrates the cavity to be exposed. When a horse is before you with synovia running from a wound upon the knee, have the leg slightly flexed; look for the most free space, and into that insert the probe. The bones of the knee-joint are directly under the skin; and, when no opposition is encountered for three-quarters of an inch, be sure the joint is exposed.

Most of the cases narrated as opened joints were simply punctures into synovial sheaths; as such, they were sufficiently serious, but not of so important a character as is assumed for them. Synovia is placed between the ends of bones, its use being to prevent the friction which otherwise would be occasioned by the movement of one hard body upon another. Being confined in a circumscribed sac and incapable of much compression, the liquid performs all the uses which could appertain to the most solid substance. When the fluid--which, from its thick appearance and unctuous feel, was formerly termed "joint oil"--has escaped, the bones grate against each other, inflammation ensues, all neighboring parts sympathize, and the constitution suffers from intense irritation.

Something of this kind happens when a synovial sheath is punctured. The tendon comes in contact with its investing synovial membrane; but there are reasons why that circumstance is not so serious as when the lubricating fluid is released from the cavity of a joint. Tendons support no weight, and their motion is, with the sick, almost optional. The bones are the pillars on which the body rests; even while the frame is prostrated, a certain degree of pressure is upon them; for that reason, and also because tendon is more highly organized than cartilage, the first-mentioned substance is endowed with the greater renovating energy. An open joint is consequently far more serious than a punctured sheath.

Notwithstanding the serious nature of these accidents when wrongly treated, few injuries yield more kindly to proper measures than open joint. However, should the ordinary treatment of caustics and bandages be adopted, the entire limb, before the expiration of a week, will be hot, hard, and tense. The health of the animal will be seriously affected by the continued irritation, and the body will rapidly become emaciated. The foot of the limb will with evident difficulty be held from the ground. Should not death interpose--the animal being unable to lie down, and the entire weight being cast upon the sound limb--the foot attached to the healthy member frequently becomes affected with the worst form of incurable laminitis.

Even should such a misfortune as laminitis not occur, the after-deformity and blemish renders the horse almost worthless. The bones sympathize in the general disease, and a large osseous deposit is engendered to mark the surgical inaptitude. When bony growth does not follow, the parts lying immediately over the knee thicken; the skin sloughs, and, the integument never being restored, a full knee with a lasting blemish is the consequence.

OPEN SYNOVIAL JOINTS.

The more favorable terminations are never to be anticipated when the barbarity of bandages and the cruelty of caustics are sanctioned. The horse which recovers from such treatment is, by an enlarged and blemished limb, rendered an object painful to contemplate, and is entirely unsuited to any gentleman's uses, while the life of the creature is rendered burdensome. There is nothing in the proper treatment which a child might not safely apply. The measures create no pain and require no force; they rather soothe than irritate, and therefore are always submitted to with complacency.

The animal, when first brought in, never displays symptoms indicating the full extent of its injury. The part which has been wounded generally presents something like the aspect represented in the engraving on the right. Commonly there is an evident flow of synovia, but the most careful examination can seldom detect positive evidence of an open joint.

The full extent of the evil cannot be known before the slough takes place. This is certain to follow upon the customary bleeding, physicking, low diet, bandages, and caustics being employed. As recovery is wished for, all such aggravations must be rejected. Proceed, in the first instance, as has been directed for broken knee; and these things being done, give the following drink:--

Sulphuric ether One ounce. Laudanum One ounce. Water Half a pint. Give this without noise or violence.

Treat the frightened animal with even more gentleness and patience than would be bestowed upon a sick child. A harsh word may now, when the system is shaken and every nerve unstrung, do that harm which no medicine can repair.

Having given the drink, look at the animal and take the pulse. Should the appearance denote inward comfort, should the pulse be natural, give no more drinks; but if the eye is in constant motion, if the horse breathe hard and start at sounds, if the head is held high and the ears are active, repeat the ethereal draught, and continue repeating it every hour until the foregoing symptoms abate.

The object of the medicine being gained, have the horse quietly led into a stall; the stall it has been used to is the best, and the favorite neighbor need not be removed. But all other quadrupeds which might disturb the sick animal should be taken out of the building. A good, clean bed should be shaken down, and the diet must be suited to the symptoms. If the pulse is at all low, no hay should be allowed till it amends; should the arterial beat denote oppression, a rather large proportion of beans may be blended with the oats. If the breathing is short, the countenance unhappy, and the eye sleepy, while a very quick and feeble pulse only is to be detected, give four of the ethereal drinks in the twenty-four hours. Also allow two quarts of stout daily.

All horses should be accustomed to drink beer; with very little teaching they abandon their teetotal habits, and will by very expressive action signify delight at the sight of a pewter pot. The best means of introducing the beverage to their notice is, in the first instance, to break a penny loaf into pieces, to soak the pieces in the beverage, and then to offer them, one by one, from the hand of the master or the favorite attendant. Animals quickly learn to recognize their owners. The dog will bestow such a welcome upon its proprietor as is never lavished upon any stranger. The horse also learns to recognize the individual whose property it has become. See the animal which has carried the groom without excitement to the door, and which has walked before the house with pendant head and listless ears: the moment the door opens and the master appears, all dejection is cast off; the creature cannot stand still when the foot is in the stirrup; and, immediately the weight is felt upon the back, the happy quadruped prances gayly off, often at the risk of unseating him who has provoked this demonstration of excessive pleasure.

The master who is unknown has earned his fate by his neglect, and probably may live to repent his inattention to the duties which Providence has intrusted to his charge. The affections of the meanest creature that breathes are blessings which the highest and the proudest may well stoop to gain. The love of a horse is not to be despised; the noble quadruped is easier controlled by its uncultivated impulses than by all the restraints which brutes have invented or fools have adopted. It should enter into the considerations of every life assurance company, whether the man who takes out a policy is of a nature likely to be loved by the animals which he possesses.

Beer is everywhere procurable, and it is not to be altogether contemned as a medicinal stimulant. Many a horse which is now lost upon every hard field-day would have been saved if the animal had been pulled up at the nearest public house to be presented with a slice of bread and a pint of beer. Such nourishment would not load the stomach; but it would serve to keep off that utter exhaustion from which too many steeds fail.

The animal being in its stall, then apply the lotion, composed of tincture of arnica, two ounces; water, one quart. Use this by means of a sponge and saucer. Pour some of the liquor into the receptacle. Saturate the sponge and squeeze the fluid upon the leg, but above the injured knee. Do this after the manner which is illustrated as the proper mode of washing the wounded part.

Continue with the arnica lotion, night and day, for half a week. No periods can be named for applying the sponge, as inflammations, and therefore the drying powers, vary in different individuals; but the knee should be always wet. This should be attended to for the first three days and a half, during which the halter should be tied to the rack. At the end of that time turn the horse very gently round. Remember the condition of the limb, and allow time for the performance of an action which is always an effort to the most agile of the equine species, as few stalls are a single inch too wide.

The animal being with its face to the gangway, and fastened by the pillar-reins, place the slings before it. Leave the creature to contemplate the apparatus for half an hour. Then take the cloth and hold it up to the inspection of the quadruped. Afterward place it between the fore and hind legs--pausing and speaking kindly should alarm be displayed. Thus by degrees fix it to the pulleys and bring it near to the abdomen, which, however, should by no means be touched. Then caress the creature's head, and present some of its favorite food: eating generally tranquilizes the mind of an animal. So much being done, proceed to fix the straps upon the chest and withers. Then fondle the sufferer again, and it will permit the hind tackle to be arranged.

When all is fixed, leave a pail of water suspended from one pillar, and put an elevated trough, charged with favorite provender, in front of the horse. Let it be watched till a week from the date of the injury has expired, and never left during that period even for an instant. If any restlessness is exhibited, the attendant should approach and caress the creature. Quadrupeds--though none comprehend the precise meaning of the language--love to be praised. The hand, fondly applied to the skin, and the human voice, modulated by kindness, seem to convey a purport to animals which they will suffer pain to deserve. The writer lately had a favorite dog, whose aversion was dry bread. It would hold the detested morsel in its mouth for hours, looking most uncomfortable, but making no attempt at mastication. Yet, upon praise being lavished, the eye would brighten, and, rather than prove unworthy of so much commendation, the hardest and stalest crust would be chewed and swallowed.

Watching is necessary, because many horses when thus imprisoned, being left alone, grow terrified and injure themselves by struggling their bodies out of the slings. The presence of any human being assures the timidity and checks the active imagination of a solitary animal. The author well knows that the learning of the present time denies imagination to animals. Shying, is only the creature imagining something which is not actually before it. What are dreams but positive evidences of imagination? All people have heard the suppressed bark and seen the excited limbs of the dog as it slept upon the hearth rug. How many grooms have been surprised, upon their earliest visit, to see the stable knocked to pieces and the horse prostrated amid the ruin it has created! How is this to be explained if imagination be not present in the animal? This is the author's interpretation of the mystery. Dreams are active, in proportion to the immaturity of the reason. Children often wake up in tears, and continue screaming in terror for long periods if unattended to. The horse starts out of a fearful vision; darkness is about it; the fear augments; the animal begins kicking; the sound made by its own feet increases the creature's alarm; it lashes out frequently until it has pounded part of its dwelling into atoms and disabled itself to that degree which makes the highest punishment the greatest mercy.

A high trough is required to guard against the effects of that itching which attends the healing process, and provokes the animal to strike its knees. This it would do against the manger were its head in the customary position. Were a wall before it, the knees might still be laid open; but with a high trough nothing is within the reach of its injured joint. Even supposing one of the slender supports, by the cunning of excitement, to be struck, the substance should be too light to offer any dangerous resistance, the blow being far more likely to overturn the machine than to lacerate the limb.

When the quadruped has remained sufficient time in the slings to have become familiar with them, pull up the cloth so that it may slightly touch but not press against the belly. Then well secure it, and leave the animal to rest its wearied limbs, or not, as it pleases. Its suffering joints will soon teach the horse to bear the entire weight upon such a support, and to sleep comfortably in the contrivance. With a few, and only a few examples, living in slings has induced such confirmed constipation as necessitated a daily resort to bran mashes. Most horses, however, speedily accept and grow fat, enjoying the relief thus afforded. Only one caution need be given--look well to the tackle. The horse is very heavy, and should a single fastening prove insecure, the result might convert a healing wound into a hopeless injury.

With the employment of slings, change the lotion for one composed of chloride of zinc, one scruple; water, one pint; this need be applied only during the day. It is too weak to occasion pain, and should be used with the saucer and sponge, after the manner of washing a broken knee or open joint, which has been previously illustrated. The strength, nevertheless, is sufficient to coagulate the albumen of the synovia. Thus it forms a species of natural bandage which excludes the air, while at the same time it stimulates the flesh and causes that to heal under the protection of its own albuminous secretion.

The coagulated albumen frequently accumulates in front of the knee. The author has seen it attached to the part quite of the size and very near to the form of the largest apple. It must on no account be touched, however large it may grow or however insecure it may appear. Respect it, and it will fall off when its service is accomplished. The cure is nearly completed when the white ball falls. Shortly after the wounds being closed, and pressure made with the fingers--not with the thumb--can be endured, the slings may be removed; though the healing should be further confirmed before the horse is allowed to stand opposite to any substance against which it may strike what recently has been a fearful open joint.

WOUNDS.

To this species of injury the horse is much exposed from the recklessness or incompetence of those who assume to hold the reins of authority. Occurrences which are politely termed "accidents," generally entail suffering upon the blameless animal. The common provocatives of such _accidents_ are either the drunkenness of man or his utter ignorance of the mental attributes of the quadruped he has possession of. The first cause shall be passed over in disgust; the second merits some consideration, being rather a universal than an individual fault.

When a horse pauses, always endeavor to ascertain the motive; the reason may be groundless. By gentleness, convince the creature that its fears are without foundation, and you earn a supremacy as well as win a gratitude which will always be cheerfully acknowledged. Never employ the whip to correct "the obstinacy of the brute." The horse is naturally very fearful; were it not so, man would never have obtained that mastery which is imperative for domestication. Elderly gentlemen should never thrust their heads out of carriage windows and shout to the driver to "go on." Such implied chiding may urge the coachman to display severity, and the horse is dangerous when alarmed. So long as the animal continues calm, the superiority of man is submitted to; but once excite the terror of the quadruped, and all earthly restraint is powerless. Dread assumes the form of the wildest fury, and the horse tears onward, insensible to mortal punishment and blind to every danger.

It is in this manner the most terrible wounds are produced. Such injuries, in surgical language, are defined to be "solutions of continuity," or "separations of the skin and soft parts underneath." Neither of these definitions, however, includes a bruise or a contused wound. Therefore, for the present purpose, a =wound= will be interpreted an injury inflicted by external violence.

A =lacerated wound= may be too trivial to attract the surgeon's notice, as a scratch. It may also be a very serious affair, as when a cart-wheel runs against a horse's thigh, tearing the flesh asunder. Laceration is generally accompanied by contusion, though contusion forms no necessary part of a lacerated wound. When such injuries are inflicted, they are mostly followed by little hemorrhage; yet it is far from unusual for an animal thus hurt to perish. Shock to the system is the most serious of the primary effects. Beyond that the immediate consequence appears to be insignificant. Little blood is lost, for the vessels are stimulated by the violence which rends these tubes and the soft structures asunder. Stimulation causes the torn mouths of the arteries and veins to close or to retract. The ragged coats of the vessels, the loose fibers of the flesh, and the jagged cellular tissue likewise fall over the orifices, and help to stay the flow of the vital current.

The dangers attending lacerated wounds spring, in the first instance, from collapse. This possibility being overcome, the immediate peril has been surmounted; all injuries of this nature are commonly attended, however, with more or less contusion. The force necessary to tear open a portion of the body will, of necessity, bruise or kill some part of the flesh. Any animal substance, when deprived of vitality, must be cast off by a living body; a slough must follow. Now that process is attended with hazard in proportion as it is tardily accomplished. The period of its occurrence is always one of anxiety; for when this process takes place, the stimulation that originally caused the vessels to retract no longer exists. All mechanical opposition to hemorrhage is, with the loss of the dead matter, generally removed. Everything, therefore, depends upon the fibrinous deposit--a sort of glutinous material secreted by the body, which is commonly largely poured forth when any slough by natural and speedy action is effected. Should the frame be so far debilitated as to prevent all secretion of fibrin, the most frightful bleeding must ensue.

The horse which has not recovered from the original injury will then sink under the terrible depletion. Therefore, it is impossible to form any opinion of the injurious effects or of the consequences likely to follow a lacerated wound before some time has elapsed.

An =incised wound= implies a division, more or less deep, of the soft parts. This form of injury produces less shock to the system, and generally heals more quickly than any other. The principal danger is encountered at the moment when the wound is inflicted; vessels may be sundered, and they are cut in twain with the least possible irritation to the parts within which they are situated. The veins and arteries, therefore, do not generally retract any more than do the soft structures. A gash into a fleshy substance always produces a gaping wound, which is wide in proportion to the depth and length of the injury. From that hurt the dark-colored venous blood drains in a stream, while the bright scarlet or arterial blood is propelled forth in jets, sometimes to a considerable distance. These jets correspond with the pulsations of the heart; but as syncope or fainting takes place, the emission ceases with the beating of the circulatory center.

The danger consequent upon an incised wound is ever measured by the extent of the hemorrhage. When large arteries are divided, that fact is easily told by the size and the force of the jets sent forth. A strong horse may, from that cause, be dead in ten minutes. To enforce the difference between a lacerated and an incised wound, the reader is reminded of those painful cases, frequently recorded in the newspapers, where a limb is by machinery torn from a poor man's body, and scarcely a drop of blood marks the deprivation; also of death by severing a throat, when sensation ceases ere the stream has flowed forth. The last is an incised, the first is a lacerated wound.

An =abraded wound=, in its mildest form, is simply a graze. The reader will, however, remember how acutely painful such accidents always are. The horse's sufferings are not highly estimated by the generality of people; nevertheless, an injury of this description is not to be despised, even when witnessed on the animal. A broken knee, as it generally is exhibited, is nothing more than an abrasion. An abraded wound may simply mean that the insensible outer covering of the skin has been injured; it may also imply that the soft structures beneath have been sundered. Wounds of this kind are not free from danger when of magnitude. Little blood may flow, but the cutis is the most sensitive structure of the entire body. A needle's point cannot enter any part of the skin without sensation warning the person of a puncture. In human operations, division of the skin, or separation of the cutis, is known to constitute the major portion of the patient's agony.

The suffering attendant on the latter class of injuries is increased by almost every abrasion forcing grit or dirt into the substance of the cutis. This, of course, is generally washed out. The torture accompanying a large abraded surface is, therefore, very great; and horses when suffering from accidents of such a nature sometimes sink from the irritation consequent upon the injury. When the animals survive, the roots of the hair too often have been destroyed, and a perpetual blemish is the result.

A =punctured wound= is always dangerous; the hazard in this, as in every species of injury, is greatly increased when inflicted on parts liable to any vast amount of motion. Thus, punctures occurring over the stifle-joint too often set our best surgery at defiance. The muscles of the hind leg contract with every movement of the body. Added to that, the part abounds with fascia.

The majority of these wounds heal by suppuration. Fascia is a substance no pus can penetrate, and which is more easily rent than punctured. The exit of the secretion, therefore, is opposed in many directions, while the ceaseless motion occasions the matter to burrow. The sinuses thus produced are by the fascia guided to the stifle-joint; and, when once the synovial cavity is polluted by the intrusion of the unhealthy pus, all the best efforts of science are useless.

When a punctured wound occurs, the skin, being elastic, stretches before the instrument by which the wound is inflicted. The soft parts beneath the skin, not being elastic to the same degree as the integument, break down before the penetrating force. They are torn or lacerated; for generally the muscles receive a larger injury than would be calculated from the size of the instrument by which the blow was inflicted. The rent flesh must be cast off by a slough--corruption generally attends that process. Much of the pus secreted cannot find an exit through the opening in the skin; a large portion of it is confined within the puncture. There it decays, and, being impelled by the motion of the limb, readily finds its way in all directions save the upward one.

No judgment approaching to accuracy can be formed at the first sight of a punctured wound. The probe may ascertain the depth of the injury, but it cannot tell the extent of damage done to the interior of the body. Therefore, whether the hoof is pierced by a nail, or the muscles are lacerated by the shaft of a cart--be the instrument large or small--the consequences likely to follow upon the injury cannot be foretold.

A =contusion=, in its mildest form, is simply a bruise. Injuries of this class, when of magnitude, are very deceptive; the surface is unstained by blood, and there is no flesh exposed. For these reasons the ignorant are apt to disregard such accidents, and to express surprise when they terminate otherwise than kindly. When a bruise happens, blood is effused in smaller or larger quantities according to the extent of the injury. A small quantity of effused blood, sufficient to discolor the human skin, may be absorbed; but when the amount is large, the powers of nature are defied. The blood thrown out, not being taken up again, congeals, and ultimately corrupts. Then an abscess or a slough is necessitated; both are attended with danger: the first may be deep seated or superficial; either form is attended by much weakness. That generates considerable irritation, and may even be the cause of fatal hemorrhage; or it may lead to sinuses, the direction, the number, or extent of which, when they do occur, is not to be predicated. A bruise is, consequently, not to be judged of hastily. The amount of pain which it provokes is even unworthy dependence, as the injury may have hurt the bone or the tendon; and then, though the accident is rendered very serious, in the first instance no sign of agony announces the extent of the evil.

With regard to treatment, when a =lacerated wound= occurs, the first attention should be paid to the system, which has always been much shaken. Give, therefore, the drink composed of one ounce each of laudanum and sulphuric ether, with half a pint of water; repeat it every quarter of an hour till the shivering natural to the horse on these occasions has disappeared, and the pulse has recovered its healthy tone.

Avoid all poultices of the ordinary kind; one composed of one-fourth yeast and three-fourths of any coarse grain, excepting bran, may be applied. So also may a lotion thus composed:--

_Lotion for Lacerated Wounds._

Tincture of cantharides One ounce. Chloride of zinc Two drachms. Water Three pints. Mix. Keep a rag constantly wet over the part.

Either will stimulate the parts, and probably prevent any tendency to unhealthy action. The yeast poultice produces this effect by giving off carbonic acid; the lotion accomplishes this intention by both its active ingredients. Each is stimulating, also disinfectant, and will counteract any filthy odor which may attend the sloughing process; but the lotion is perhaps to be preferred, as it is more easily applied. When the slough has taken place, should hemorrhage ensue, dash upon the part jug after jug of the coldest water; or, should no very cold water be at hand, drive upon the mouths of the vessels a current of wind from the nozzle of the bellows. Continue to do this till the bleeding ceases, or until a surgeon can be obtained to take up the arteries.

The after-treatment is simple: apply frequently the solution of chloride of zinc, one grain to an ounce of water; that lotion will cleanse the wound and prevent unpleasant smells.

As respects feeding, this must be regulated by the character of the pulse. Should the beat of the artery be quick and feeble, no hay should be given; good, thick gruel should constitute the only drink excepting in extreme cases, when two pots of porter may be allowed each day. Good oats and old beans, both crushed and scalded, should then constitute the food, and the utmost gentleness should be exercised toward the animal.

Should the pulse be natural, allow three feeds of oats each day, as, in every kind of injury to the horse, more danger is to be apprehended from debility than from any excess of energy.

=Incised wounds.=--When these happen, always dash the part with plenty of cold water or blow upon them with the bellows. Place the horse in the nearest shed; motion promotes hemorrhage, therefore a walk is not to be hazarded. The bleeding being arrested--for, in severe accidents of this kind, there is no time to send for assistance--let the animal remain perfectly quiet until the exposed surface has become almost dry, but on being touched by the finger feels sticky. Then draw the edges together, and keep them in that position by means of sutures.

The best means of inserting these sutures is with a curved needle fixed into a handle. The handle is wanted to obtain the necessary power, and the needle's point should be sharp to penetrate the hide of the horse, which in places is of considerable thickness. The needle is thrust through the integument about one inch and a half from one margin of the incision; it is brought out about the same distance within the divided soft parts. It enters the opposite side of the sundered flesh even with the place whence it came forth, and afterward it appears through the skin about equally distant from the opposite edge of the wound. There is a hole near the point of the needle; through this opening a piece of strong twine or narrow tape is threaded; when, the instrument being withdrawn, the twine or tape is pulled into the puncture which has been made. The needle is then released, the suture being left in.

So many sutures as may be necessary are thus inserted--in small wounds, these being about two inches asunder, but in larger injuries, three inches apart. All are duly placed before any are tied; the whole being ready, the wound is forced together by an assistant, while the strings are fastened--care being exercised not to bring any of them actually tight, lest the motion of the body or the swelling of the part should drag the sutures through the flesh and thereby tear them out.

A wound thus united may possibly heal by first intention, or the divided parts, when brought together, may join, and give no further trouble to the surgical attendant.

Union by first intention is, however, somewhat rare in the horse; and should not that take place, suppuration will be established. So soon as the pus flows freely forth, and the sutures appear to tighten or drag, cut them out by snipping the twine; but allow the strings to loosen before you attempt their withdrawal.

If this is not done, the sutures will speedily find an exit for themselves by causing the flesh against which the tension acts to be absorbed; thus the original injury will be rendered more complicated, and the ultimate blemish must be altogether greater.

All that is required after the establishment of suppuration is to bathe the part with the solution of chloride of zinc, one grain to the ounce of water. This lotion will suppress any fetor, and gently stimulate the healing process, as well as prevent the sprouting of fungoid granulations; it is necessary also to attend strictly to the directions laid down for feeding during the curing of wounds.

The treatment of an =abraded wound= chiefly consists in cleansing the surface with plenty of cold water, which should be allowed by its own weight to wash off any loose particles of dirt. No cloth or other aid should be employed to scrub the living flesh as though it were an insensitive board. The matter which cannot be removed by simply sluicing, had better remain to be expelled by the secretion of pus. The horse, especially when terrified, endures pain very badly; indeed, the animal is so timid and so delicately framed that it is always good surgery to spare all unnecessary suffering.

Support the body with laudanum and ether drinks, one ounce of each to the pint of water, as often as they may be needed. Let the food be generous, unless fever should arise, when the directions already given must be attended to.

=Punctured wounds= require only one kind of treatment, whether a nail be driven into the flesh of the foot, or the shaft of a cart be forced into the substance of the thigh. Here the knife must be employed; and, unless the animal shows evident symptoms of excessive weakness, it is better, perhaps, to operate while the parts are partially numbed by the shock, than to wait until a morbid sensibility is provoked. Always enlarge the opening; do this in the foot by cutting away the horn of the sole around the small puncture left by the nail. When the soft parts are penetrated, probe the wound first; then, if possible, insert a knife to the bottom of the puncture, and, with the edge downward, draw it forth. By this means a wound resembling a subverted =<= will be instituted. It will be narrowest toward the extremity, and widest at the mouth. A free opening affords a ready egress for all sloughs and pus. It materially aids the healing process, and effectually prevents the establishment of sinuses; while the clean incision left by the knife is of small import, when taken into consideration with the other consequences of a punctured wound.

Support the animal if necessary, or regulate the food by the symptoms.

A =contused wound=, when slight, may be rubbed with the iodide of lead ointment, one drachm of the active agent to the ounce of lard; when all enlargement will sometimes subside, and the effused blood may be absorbed. However, the horse commonly receives injuries of magnitude. In the last case, take a sharp knife and draw it along the entire length of the swelling. Make a long gash, only through the integument, at every eighth inch, and be careful to carry the knife through the integument, or to the lowest portion of the detached skin. Any sac that may be left is certain to retain corruption, and may produce fearful after-consequences. The attendant measures consist in bathing the contusion with a lotion composed of chloride of zinc, one grain, water, one ounce, and diminishing the food or supporting the body as nature demands such treatment.

The after-treatment of all injuries consists in keeping any external orifices open till all sloughs and pus have disappeared. In surgery, a large and depending opening, by means of which the interior may drain, is always to be preserved, and the knife, to this end, may be employed so often as the healing process threatens to prematurely close the wound.

Formerly it was the practice to bleed after every injury; this was done to prevent fever. However, observation has shown that the vital powers are more often weakened than increased by the shock attendant on severe accidents. Whenever the contrary happens, it is far better to lower the pulse by repeated doses of aconite, than to abstract that which will subsequently be necessary to repair injury.

It was also once the custom to fill wounds with tents or lumps of tow, and to bandage every injured part. These habits only served to confine that which nature was striving to cast out. They consequently did much harm, and are now happily discarded.

A piece of loose rag, saturated in the oil or the solution of tar, should, during summer, be suspended over the mouth of every wound, to keep off the flies. The only tent which the author approves of is when an incised wound happens where assistance is far away, and difficult to procure. Then, to arrest the hemorrhage, let the horse rug, a man's coat, or anything else be violently thrust into the gash, and forcibly held there until proper assistance can be obtained.

Such is the present method of treating wounds; this to the reader may appear very cruel; but could he have walked through and have inhaled the atmosphere of the wards in hospitals appropriated to such injuries as they existed in former times, he would thoroughly understand that apparent want of feeling is, in reality, the height of charity.

To conclude this part, the author lays before his readers the following bandage, intended to meet an inconvenience hitherto experienced when a horse has the walls of the abdomen punctured. The constant motion of the part renders ordinary sutures of no avail, and for that reason bandages, unless so tight as to check circulation, are of little use. The annexed is made like a broad belt, and is buckled round the body. The bars are composed of vulcanized India-rubber; they will yield to the movements of the abdomen, and yet serve as sutures supporting any pendant flap, while at the same time they will allow the wound to be dressed without disturbing the bandage. They also offer the advantage of permitting the attendant to pull one support aside without removing the whole.

Every part in the horse subjected to much motion when wounded, should have an adhesive plaster placed over it, and retained there until the suppurative action is confirmed. By this means is excluded the atmosphere, which, when this precaution was neglected, has entered the wound, penetrated between the muscles, and by distending the body increased the suffering, as well as led to the worst of consequences.

Wounds in veterinary surgery rank among the most formidable cases with which the practitioner has to contend. They are not so because the flesh of the horse is slower to heal than that of the human being. Indeed, the scale in this respect inclines toward the animal; but they are rendered slow to heal and difficult to cure by two causes. The horse is always impatient of restraint; any effort to confine the creature is more likely to provoke dangerous resistance than to induce the slightest symptom of amendment. The quadruped naturally delights in motion. It was formed for activity. Even when in its stall the body is never absolutely still; the position is being changed; the legs are frequently stamped; the head, eyes, ears, and tail are never quiet. This innate quality retards the union of sundered flesh. It favors the gravitation of pus between the muscles, and thus generates sinuses. These are the torments of veterinary surgery. Could the sinus be anticipated, or in all cases eradicated, the principal difficulty would be removed; but intelligent as the horse is, it proves impossible to make the animal comprehend the necessity for quietude. Hence any trivial accident may lead to injuries of so extensive a character and so malignant a nature as will set the best endeavors or the most consummate skill at defiance.