DISLOCATION. 477 
gad cases, a patten shoe should be kept on, so as to keep the hock as 
straight as possible, and thus take the strain off the ligaments which are 
affected. After the part has become cool, it may be reduced in size, by 
causing absorption to be set up ; which is best effected by the application 
of mercury and iodine (both of which possess that power), in such a shape 
as to cause a blister of the skin. The biniodide of mercury has this double 
advantage, and there is no application known to surgery which will act 
equally well in effecting the absorption of a curb. It should be applied in 
the mode recommended at page 456,-and again rubbed on at an interval of 
about a week, for three or four times in succession, when it will generally 
be found that the absorption of the unnatural swelling is effected ; but 
the ligaments remain as weak as before, and nothing but exercise (not too 
severe, or it will inflame them again) will strengthen them sufficiently to 
prevent a return. Friction with the hand, aided by a slightly stimulating 
oil (such as neat’s-foot and turpentine mixed, or neat’s-foot and oil of 
origanum, or, in fact, any stimulating essential oil), will tend to strengthen 
the ligaments, by exciting their vessels to throw out additional fibres ; 
and in course of time a curb may be considered to be sufficiently restored 
to render it tolerably safe to use the horse again in the same way which 
originally produced it. 
DISLOCATION. 
By pisLocation is meant the forcible removal of the end of a bone 
from the articulating surface which it naturally occupies. In the horse, 
from the strength of his ligaments, the accident is not common; those 
that do occur being chiefly in-the hip joint, and in that between the 
patella and the end of the femur. 
DISLocaTION OF THE HIP JOINT is known by the rigidity of the hind 
leg, which cannot be moved in any direction, and is carried by the horse 
whea he is compelled to attempt to alter his position. There is a flatness 
of the haunch below the hip, but the crest of the ilium is still there, and 
by this the accident may be diagnosed from fracture of that part. No 
treatment is of the slightest avail, as the part cannot be reduced, and the 
horse is useless except for stud purposes. The accident is not very 
common, . 
DIsLOCATION OF THE PATELLA sometimes becomes habitual, occurring 
repeatedly in the same horse, apparently from a spasmodic contraction of 
the external vastus muscle, which draws the patella outwards, and out of 
the trochlea formed for it in the lower head of the femur. When the 
cramp goes off, the patella drops into its place again as soon as the horse 
moves, and no treatment is required. Occasionally, however, the disloca- 
tion is more complete, and nothing but manual dexterity will replace the 
bone in its proper situation. Great pain and uneasiness are expressed, 
and the operator must encircle the haunch with his arms and lay hold of 
the patella with both hands, while an assistant drags forward the toe, and 
thus relaxes the muscles which are inserted in it. By forcibly driving 
the patella into its place it may be lifted over the ridge which it has 
passed, and a snap announces the reduction. 
WOUNDS OF JOINTS. 
THE KNEE is the joint most frequently suffering from wound, being 
liable to be cut by a fall upon it, if the ground is rough; and if the acci- 
dent takes place when the horse is going at a rapid pace, the skin, liga 
