246 HORSE, SWINE AND POULTRY DISEASES 



be secured. To fulfill this necessary condition the posterior part of 

 the foot and the fetlock must be supported and the traction per- 

 formed by them relieved, an object which can be obtained by the 

 use of the high-heeled and bar shoe, or possibly better accomplished 

 with a shoe of the same kind extending about 2 or 2^2 inches back 

 of the heels. The perfect immobility of the legs is obtained in the 

 same way as in the treatment of fracture, with splints, bandages, 

 iron apparatus, plaster of adhesive mixtures, and similar means. So 

 long as the dressings remain in place undisturbed, and no chafing 

 or other evidence of pain is present, the dressings may be continued 

 without changing, the patient being kept in the slings for a period 

 sufficient to insure the perfect union of the tendons. But for a com- 

 pound lesion, when there is laceration of the skin, some special care 

 is necessary. The wound must be carefully watched and the dress- 

 ings removed at intervals of a few days, or as often as may be need- 

 ful, all of which additional manipulation and extra nursing, how- 

 ever indispensable, still adds to the gravity of the case and renders 

 the prognosis more and more serious. When the tendons have 

 sloughed in threads of various dimensions, or if in the absence of 

 this process of mortification healthy granulation should form and fill 

 up the wound, still very careful attention will be required, the gran- 

 ulating ends of the tendons having a tendency to bulge between the 

 edges of the skin and to assume large dimensions, forming bulky ex- 

 crescences or growths of a warty or cauliflower appearance, the re- 

 moval of which becomes a troublesome matter. 



The union of the tendons will at times leave a thickening of 

 varying degree near the point of cicatrization, the absorption of 

 which becomes an object of difficult and doubtful accomplishment, 

 but whicL may be promoted by moderate blistering and the use of 

 alterative and absorbent mixtures or perhaps the fire iron. A shoe 

 with heels somewhat higher than usual will prove a comfort to the 

 animal and aid in moderating and relieving the tension of the 

 tendons. 



SUNDRY ADDITIONAL AFFECTIONS OF THE EXTREMITIES. 



Among these there are three which will principally occupy our 

 attention, and these may be considered as forming a single group. 

 In some parts of the legs may be found certain peculiar little struc- 

 tures of a saclike formation, containing an oily substance designed 

 for the lubrication of the parts upon which they are placed for the 

 purpose of facilitating the movements of the tendons which pass over 

 them. These little sacs or muco-synovial capsules are liable under 

 peculiar conditions of traumatism to become subject to a diseased 

 process, which consists principally in a hypersecretion of their con- 

 tents and an increase in dimensions, and they may undergo peculiar 

 pathological changes of such a character as to disable an animal, and 

 in many instances to cause serious blemishes which can not but de- 

 preciate his value. These growths, which are known as hygromata, 

 may result from external violence, as blows or bruises, and may ap- 

 pear in the form of small, soft tumors, painless and not inflamma- 

 tory in character, but, by a repetition of the cause or renewal of 



