lameness: its causes and tkeatmext. 389 



sively assiuue the serious characters of an ugly cicatrix, a hard, 

 phistic swelling, or perhaps, as witnessed at the knee, of periostitis 

 with its sequelie. 



If a single and constantly recurring cause — a blow — is tiie starting 

 point in interfering, we may now consider the subject of the predis- 

 position Avhich brings such serious results upon the sullering animal, 

 and the conditions which lead to and ac<'ompany it. These are 

 numerous, but the lirst in fretpiency and importance is peculiarity 

 of conformation in the animals addicted to it. The first class will 

 include horses whose chests are narit)W and whose legs do not stand 

 straight and upright, but are ciooked and pigeon-toed in and out. 

 The second class includes tliose whose legs are weak, either from 

 youth ov hard labor, or from severe attacks of sickness. Another 

 class is made up of those ha\ ing abnormally developed feet, or which 

 have been badly shod with unnecessarily wide or heavy shoes. An- 

 other class consists of those that are alVected with swollen fetlocks or 

 chronic, edematous swelling of the leg. Another is formed of ani- 

 mals with a peculiar action, as those whose knee action is very high, 

 and it is these that furnish most of the cases of speedy cut. 



ProynosU. — The ])rognosis of interfenng is never a very serious 

 one. However violent the blow- ma}' be it is rarely that subsequent 

 complications of a troublesome nature occur. The principal evil 

 attending it is a liability to be followed by a thickened or callous 

 deposit which is not only an eyesore and a blemish, but constitutes a 

 new juid increased predisi>osition. The remark that *' an animal 

 which has interfered once is always liable to interfere," is often con- 

 firmed and sanctioned by a recurrence of the tiouble. 



Tnatm^nt. — Another point in which there is a resemblance between 

 this lesion and others which we ha\e consitlered iy in its responsive- 

 ness to the same treatment with them. Indeed, the prescription of 

 warm fomentations, soothing applications, and astringent and re- 

 H^ilvent mixtures, in a njajfu-ity of cases, is the first that occurs all 

 through the list. If the swelling assumes the character of a serous 

 collection, pressure, c«:ld wat<M-, and bandages will contribute to its 

 removal. If suppuration seems to be establi.shed and the swelling 

 a.ssumes the character of a developing abscess, hot poultices of flax- 

 seed or of boiled vegetables and the embrocations of sedatixe oint- 

 ments, those of basilicon, or vaseline, impregnated with preparations 

 of opium or belladonna — all these recommend themselves by their 

 general adaj^tation and the beneficial results which have followed 

 their admini.straticn, not less in one case than in another. "\\ hen an 

 abscess has formed and is fluctuating, it .should be carefully but fully 

 opened to evacuate the pu.s. If it is a serous cyst, some care is neces- 

 sary in emptyiuL^ it. and the ])os^ibility of the extension of the in- 

 flammation to the joint nnist be taken into consideration. "When the 



