92 



THE MODERN SYSTEM 



C n A P T E il VII. 



OF WOUNDS IN GENERAL; WOUNDS OF THE HEAD, CHEST, ABDOMEN. 

 JOINTS, SHEATHS OF TENDONS, ARTERIES, AND VEINS; BROKEN 

 KNEES; GUN-SHOT WOUNDS; AND SUTURES. 



OF WOUNDS IN GENERAL. 



WouNDC are a species of injury, to which 

 Horses are not only perpetually liable, but of 

 so many different kinds, and requiring such 

 various modes of treatment (according to the 

 cause, appearance, situation, depth, and state 

 of the wound, or habit of the subject), that to 

 enumerate the whole, with all possible or 

 probable circumstances, would be to write a 

 volume on the article alone, which is certainly 

 entitled to every deg'ree of attention, from the 

 simple and complex cases that so frequently 

 occur. 



Wounds may be divided into such a variety, 

 that to enumerate the list of probabilities, 

 would be to encounter the work of an age, 

 and serve more to perplex than enlighten 

 those not altogether adequate to the task of 

 defining technical terms or professional des- 

 criptions. To enlarge upon every probable 

 means by wliich a wound may be received, 

 and from the variety of weapons, or stable 

 instruments, is an absolute impracticability ; we 

 will, therefore, endeavour to define what 

 wounds are ; and then shew them in the most 

 prominent features, with the best means of 

 cure. 



I A wound may be defined to be a recent 

 solution of continuity in the soft parts, sud- 

 denly occasioned by external causes. 



Wounds (as we observed before), in gene- 

 ral, are subject to a great deal of variety, both 

 in their nature and external appearance. The 

 differences depend in a very great measure 

 on the nature of the injured parts, the manner 

 in which the wound has happened, and its 

 extent. 



Wounds of fleshy parts are exceedingly 

 different from those of tendinous ones, both in 

 regard to their appearance and nature, and 

 degree of danger. There is also an essential 

 difference between such as are made with a 

 sharp cutting instrument, and others, in which 

 the fibres, besides being divided, have suffered 

 considerable contusion and laceration. A 

 wound made with a narrow pointed instru- 

 ment, is also of a very different nature from 

 one that has an ample orifice. 



The degrees of danger, attending everj^ 

 wound, depends very much on some of the 

 following circumstances : — 



The extent of the injury, the additional 

 violence which the fibres of the part have 

 suffered, besides their division, the nature of 

 the blood-vessels, or nerves, which happen to 



