356 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 



soaking tub and at night by applying a moderately tight-roller band- 

 age. Later absorption may be promoted by a Priessnitz bandage,^ 

 pressure by roller bandages, sweating, the use of liniments, or if nec- 

 essary by a sharp blister of biniodid of mercury. This treatment 

 should subdue the inflammation, abate the soreness, absorb the excess 

 of secretion, strengthen the walls of the sac, and finally cause the 

 windgalls to disappear, provided the animal is not too quickly re- 

 turned to labor and exposed to the same factors that occasioned them 

 at first. 



If the inflammation has become chronic, however, and the enlarge- 

 ment has been of considerable duration, the negative course will be 

 the wiser one. If any benefit results from treatment it will be of 

 only a transient kind, the dilatation returning when the patient is 

 again subjected to labor, and it will be a fortunate circumstance if 

 inflammation has not supervened. 



Notwithstanding the generally benignant nature of the swelling 

 there are exceptional cases, usually when it is probably undergoing 

 certain pathological changes, which may result in lameness and dis- 

 able the animal, in which case surgical treatment will be indicated, 

 especially if repeated blistei-s have failed to improve the symptoms. 

 Line firing is then a preeminent suggestion, and many a useful life 

 has received a new lease as the result of this operation timely per- 

 formed. Another method of firing, which consists in emptying the 

 sac by means of punctures through and through, made with a red-hot 

 needle or wire, and the subsequent injection of certain irritating and 

 alterative compounds into the cavity, designed to effect its closure 

 by exciting adhesive inflammation, such as tincture of iodin, may be 

 commended. But they are all too active and energetic in their effects 

 and require too much special attention and intelligent management to 

 be trusted to any hands other than those of an expert veterinarian. 



BLOOD SPAVIN, BOG SPAVIN, AND THOROUGHPIN. 



The blood spavin is situated in front and to the inside of the hock 

 and is merely a varicose or dilated condition of the saphena vein. It 

 occurs directly over the point where the bog spavin is found, and has 

 thus been frequently confused with the latter. 



The complicated arrangement of the hock joint, and the powerful 

 tendons which pass on the posterior part, are lubricated with the 

 product of secretion from one tendinous synovial and several articu- 

 lar svnovial sacs. A large articular sac contributes to the lubrica- 



1 This bandage consists of a cloth drenchpd in warm water or a drippin? bandage laid 

 around the diseased part, then covered by several layers of woolen blanket or cloth, which 

 is in turn covered by parchment paper, rubber cloth, or other impervious material. Heat, 

 moisture, and pressure are obtained by such a bandage if water is poured upon it several 

 times daily. 



