INFLAMMATION OF THE SYNOVIAL .MEMBKANE 283 



seriously impaired or altogether destroyed, and should the patient recover, 

 his or her services can only be reckoned on for breeding purposes. 



Treatment. — The first concern should be directed towards providing 

 conditions for affording rest and relief from jniin. To this end the floor 

 should be covered with peat-moss, tan, or saw-dust, and the patient should 

 be placed in slings. 



A dose of physic at the outset will prove beneficial, and the diet should 

 be light and sparing. Scalded bran with a little chaff, and some roots or 

 green meat will be most suitable for the purpose. 



The limb should be supported and its movements restricted by the 

 application of bandages. 



The joint should then be irrigated with cold water four or five times a 

 day, and in the intervals the bandages should be repeatedly soaked with it. 



If a wound exists it should be thoroughly cleansed, freely irrigated 

 with five-per-cent solution of carbolic acid, and kept aseptic by suitable 

 dressing. 



Where the jjain is acute and the suft'ering great, the affected joint 

 should be anointed twice a day with belladonna and glycerine, in the 

 proportion of one part of the former to two of the latter, and if necessary 

 an opiate may be given from time to time to alleviate pain and ensure 

 rest. 



When the acute symptoms have subsided, the part may be vigorously 

 rubbed with weak soap liniment, and gently-increasing pressure applied to 

 the swollen joint by means of a bandage. 



This may recjuire to be followed up by one or more bli.sters, and a course 

 of iodide of potassium administered to eftect removal of the swelling. 



CHRONIC SYNOVITIS 



Chronic synovitis may follow upon an acute attack of the disease, or 

 arise directly from an injury inflicted upon a joint. 



As in acute synovitis, the joint capsule is more or less distended 

 with fluid, and bulges at certain points where most exposed. The pain, 

 however, is not so severe as in the acute form of the disease. In this 

 connection considerable variation is observed from time to time. One 

 day the patient gives promise of improvement, but tliis is mostly followed 

 by a set-back sooner or later, and the general tendency of the malady is in 

 the direction of an unfavourable issue. 



The joint, after becoming filled with serous fluid, may ultimately contain 

 pus (matter), which sooner or later escapes through abscesses on the surface. 

 The appetite becomes indifferent, the constitutional disturbance is severe, 



