NINTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART X 451 
a permanent character. At a later period, however, the swelling will be- 
come better defined, the deformity more characteristic, the prominent 
curved line readily detected and the thickness of the infiltrated tissue 
easily determined by the fingers. At this time, also, there may be 
a condition of lameness, varying in degree, while at others, again, the 
irregularity of action at the hock Vv^ill be so slight as to escape detection, 
the animal betraying no appearance of its existence. 
A curb constitutes, by a strict construction of the term, an "unsound- 
ness," since the hock thus affected is less able to endure severe labor, 
and is more liable to give way with the slightest effort. And yet the 
prognosis of a curb can not be considered to be serious, since it generally 
yields to treatment, or at least the lameness it may occasion is generally 
easily relieved, though the loss of contour caused by the bulging will 
always constitute a blemish. 
Treatment. — On the first appearance of a curb, when it exhibits the 
signs of an acute inflammation, the first indication is to subdue this by 
the use of cold applications as intermittent or constant irrigation or an 
ice poultice; but v, hen these have exhausted their effect and the swelling 
has assumed better defined boundaries, and the infiltration of the tendons 
or of the ligaments is all that remains of a morbid state, then every 
effort must be directed to the object of effecting its absorption and 
reducing its dimensions by pressure and other methods. The medica- 
ment most to be trusted are blisters of cantharides and frictions with 
ointments of iodine, or, preferably, biniodide of mercury. Mercurial 
agents alone, by their therapeutic properties or by means of the artificial 
bandages which they furnish by their incrustations when their vesica- 
tory effects are exhausted, Vvill give good results in some instances by a 
single application and often by repeated applications. The. use of the 
firing iron must, however, be frequently resorted to, either to remove the 
lameness or to stimulate the absorption. We believe that its early ap- 
plication ought to bs resorted to in preference to waiting until the exuda- 
tion is firmly organized. Firing in dull points or in lines will prove as 
beneficial in curb as in any other disease of a similar nature. 
LACEEATED TENDONS. 
This form of injury, whether of a simple or of a compound character, 
may become a lesion of a very serious nature, and wall usually require 
long and careful treatment, vrhich may yet prove unavailing in conse- 
quence either of the intrinsically fatal character of the wound itself or 
the complications v^^hich have rendered it incurable. 
Ca-wse.^Iike all similar injuries, these are the result of traumatic 
violence, such as contact with objects both blunt and sharp; a curbstone 
in the city; in the country, a tree stump or a fence, especially one of 
V ire. It may easily occur to a runaway horse when he is "whipped" 
with fragments of harness or "flogged" by fragments of splintered shafts, 
"thrashing" his legs, or by the contact of his legs with the wagon he 
has overturned and shattered with his heels while disengaging himself 
from its v^reck, , 
