248 HORSE, SWINE AND POULTRY DISEASES 



This last form of capped elbow is the most serious of any, re- 

 sisting all known forms of mild treatment, and removable by the 

 knife only. The other forms, even that with the inflammatory 

 aspect and its large edematous swelling which interferes with the 

 work of the animal may justify a much milder prognosis, and, aside 

 from their liability to recur, may be ranked with the .comparatively 

 harmless affections. 



Treatment. So long as the danger of recurrence is the principal 

 bad feature of capped elbow the most important consideration is that 

 of devising a means for its prevention. To prevent the animal from 

 lying down is evidently the simplest method of keeping the heels 

 and the elbow apart ; but the impracticability of this prescription is 

 apparent, since a majority of animals are obliged to lie down when 

 they sleep, though it is true that a few take their sleep on their feet. 

 The question of shoeing here enters into the discussion. The short- 

 ening of the inside branch of the shoe, which is the one with which 

 the pressure is made, may be of advantage, and especially if the 

 truncated end of the shoe is smooth and filed over to remove all pos- 

 sibility of pressure and contusion upon the skin. The protection 

 of the skin of the elbow by interposing soft tissues between that and 

 the shoe, or by bandaging the heel with bags or covering it with 

 boots, is considered by many the best of the preventive methods, and 

 the advantage to be secured by resorting to it can not be overlooked 

 when the number of horses which develop shoe boil whenever the 

 use of the boot is intermitted is considered. In order to prevent the 

 animal from assuming the sternal decubitus, many give preference 

 to the plan of fastening a piece of wood across the stall at some dis- 

 tance from the front wall or manger. It is a simple expedient, 

 primitive, perhaps, but nevertheless practical and followed by good 

 results. 



CAPPED KNEE. 



The passage of the tendons of the extensor muscle of the ca- 

 non, as it glides in front of the kneejoint, is assisted by one of the 

 little bursae before mentioned, and when this becomes the seat of a 

 dropsical collection a hygroma is formed and the knee is capped. 

 Though somewhat analogous in its history to the capped elbow, there 

 are points of difference between them. Their development may 

 prove a source of great annoyance from the fact of the blemish 

 which they constitute. 



Cause. The capped knee presents itself under various condi- 

 tions. It is sometimes the result of a bruise or contusion, often re- 

 peated, inflicted upon himself by a horse addicted to the habit of 

 pawing while in the stable and striking the front of the stall with 

 iris knees. Another class of patients is formed of those weak-kneed 

 animals which are subject to falling and bruising the front of the 

 joint against the ground, the results not being always of the same 

 character. 



Symptoms. The lesion may be a simple bruise, or it may be a 

 severe contusion with swelling, edema, heat, and pain. The joint 

 becomes so stiff and rigid that it interferes with the locomotion and 



