372 CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE t TOCK AND COMPLETE STOCK DOCTOR. 



Apply with a swab directly to the diseased spot on the bone. This will 

 have the effect of arresting the caries, and promoting a healthy granu- 

 lation on the surface of the bone, which will fill up the hole. Continue 

 this lotion till all disease of the bone is certainly gone ; then change to 

 No. 7, which will heal the flesh wound, or use a little tincture of myrrh, 

 or gum balsam. Jf it is cold weather, compound tincture of benzoine 

 (Friar's balsam) is probably the best for flesh wounds. These latter may 

 be api)licd two or three times a day. Treatment of parts re(iuii'ing 

 particular appliances will be fouiul under their proper heads. 



II. Necrosis. 



This is death of a pari or the whole of a bone ; usually seen in the long, 

 harder bones of the body, and (juite often in the lower jaw-bones of 

 horses that i)ull very hard on the bit. Necrosis is sometimes seen affect- 

 ing the cannon bones of young racers, causing the whole bone to run out, 

 and a new one to form, but it is very rare. 



Causes. — External violence is the usual cause, setting up inflammation 

 of the periosteum (the covering of the bone), and cutting' off the nutri- 

 ment of the bone, so that it perishes. 



How to know it. — There will be one or more openings in the skin and 

 flesh, through which the pus will find its way ; the odor of decayed teeth 

 will be present, and occasionally a small piece of dead bone will p-iss out 

 with the pus; this dead bone is called sequestrum. The discharge is 

 irritating and excoriates the surface it runs over. 



What to do. — Make the openings large and dependent to allow a free 

 escape for the pus, and remove the sequestrum as fast as possible, for 

 the sooner it is removed, the sooner the sore will get well. Keep the 

 parts clean, and dress three times a day with the following lotion, if the 

 iisease is on the surface, so that it can be got at easily: 



No. 29. y^ Ounce carbolic acid, 



}4 Pint raw linseed oil. 

 Mix. 



But if the pus cavities run deep, inject lotion No. 5. If the legs are 

 aifected, put the horse in slings. 



III. Big Head, (Osteo Porosis.) 



Big head is the common manifestation of constitutional or generalized osteo 

 porosis. It is a disease of the bones of tlie body, in which they become 

 inflamed, swollen, softened and, finally, degenerated into cheesy matter, so 

 soft as to be easily punctured. It may be confined to the bones of the head, 

 either upper or lower jaw, or both, or it may attack the bones of the legs 

 or back, causing lameness and stifl'ness and finaJy breaking down by rupture 

 of the attachments of the ligaments, necessitating destruction of the animal. 

 It is most often seen in the central and southern portions of the United 



