104 THE TROTTING-IIORSE OF AMERICA. 



bandages should be of light flannel, and it is immaterial 

 whether it is red or white. They are not to be put on tight. 

 The legs of a horse ought never to be bandaged tight, for 

 such a course impedes the circulation into the feet, where 

 there is a great necessity for it ; but, losing sight of this, 

 the bandages are sometimes pulled so that it looks as if 

 they were intended to serve as a tourniquet, and stop the 

 circulation of the blood altogether. Neither can it serve 

 any useful purpose, that I can see, to bind the suspensory 

 ligament up to the bone of the leg. Nature intended that 

 in the horse it should stand out from it, as we see in the 

 fine flat legs of the best runners and trotters. Whatever 

 support is required may be obtained with only a moderate 

 degree of tightness ; and I have sometimes thought that an 

 elastic stocking, such as our best surgeons use in cases of 

 bad strain to the nerves and muscles of the human, foot 

 and ankle, would be a very useful article in a training- 

 stable. 



The difference between tight bandaging and elastic sup- 

 port was brought very prominently to my notice not long 

 ago. A lady seriously injured her foot and ankle by falling 

 down stairs, when coming in a hurry to receive a friend. 

 She was unable to walk for months, and finally could not 

 bear the injured foot upon the floor ever so lightly. 

 Treatment by various lotions and liniments was adopted, 

 and tight bandaging was prescribed by the surgeons of the 

 city where this accident happened. But the foot got no 

 better; and, fearing that permanent lameness might be the 

 result, the lady " came to New York, and was treated by 

 Dr. Carnochan. He abolished the tight bandaging, 

 substituted an elastic stocking made by a very clever 

 mechanic, and insisted that the foot should be put down, 

 and used a little every day without crutches. The result 

 was a perfect cure, in an astonishingly short time. Had the 

 numbing process by means of the tightened bandages been 

 persevered with much longer, the use of the member would 



