68 MOUNTED INSTRUCTION 



LAMENESS 



Usually tlTe discovery that the animal is becoming lame is a com- 

 paratively easy matter to the careful observer. Such a person will 

 readily note any changes in movements which will have taken place in 

 the animal he has been accustomed to ride or drive, unless they are very 

 slight. But what is not always so easy after having discovered the 

 fact of an existing irregularity, is the locality of its point of origin, and 

 whether its seat be in the near or off leg, in the fore or hind leg, or some 

 other part of the body. These are questions, too often wrongly decided, 

 notwithstanding the fact that with a little careful scrutiny the' point 

 may be easily settled. The error, which is too often committed, of pro- 

 nouncing the leg upon which the animal travels soundly as the seat of 

 the lameness, is the result of a misinterpretation of the physiology of 

 locomotion in the crippled animal. Much depends upon the gait with 

 which the animal moves while under examination. The act of walking 

 is unfavorable for making an accurate observation, though the decision 

 is easy to reach if the animal walks on three legs. The action of gallop- 

 ing will often by the rapidity of the muscular movements and their 

 quick succession, interfere with an accurate study of their rhythm, and 

 it is only under some peculiar circumstances that the examination can 

 be safely conducted while the animal is moving with that gait. It is 

 while the animal is trotting that the investigation is made with the best 

 chances of an intelligent decision, and it is while moving with that gait, 

 therefore, that the points should be looked for which must form the 

 elements of the diagnosis. The causes for lameness are taken up in 

 Instruction Memorandum No. t'/-G, on Soundness. 



WOUNDS 



A wound is an injury to any part of the body caused by violence, 

 with or without laceration of the skin. An accidental wound is a sim- 

 ple cut made with a sharp instrument, such as a knife, producing merely 

 a division of the tissue. In a cut wound the edges are even and definite, 

 while those of a lacerated wound are irregular and torn. The check- 

 ing of the flow of blood may be accomplished by several methods, such 

 as compress bandages, hot iron, and ligatures. The heat from a hot 

 iron will cause the immediate clotting of the blood in the vessels and 

 this clot is further supported by the production of a scab, or crust, over 

 the portion seared. The iron should be at a red heat. If at a white 

 heat the tissue is charred, which makes it brittle and the bleeding is 

 liable to be renewed. If iron is at black heat, the tissue will stick to 

 the iron, and will pull away from the surface of the wound. Cold water 

 and ice bags will quickly stop capillary bleeding, while hot water is 

 preferable in more excessive bleedings or hemorrhages. Some drugs, 

 called styptics, possess the power of contracting the walls of blood ves- 

 sels and "also of clotting the blood. A solution of chloride of iron placed 

 on the wound alone or by means of cotton drenched in the liquid pro- 

 duces a rapid and hard clot. Tannic acid, alum, acetic acid, alcohol, 



