THE ULNAR NERVE 151 



the limb, and employ it for supporting weight within two or three 

 weeks. 



If possible, the animal should be placed in slings. Macqueen 

 recommends allowing the patient to remain in slings for a few days, and 

 then to be taken out of the slings and allowed to have the freedom of a 

 large box. He should not again be placed in slings unless he is 

 incapable of lying down and rising without assistance. Friction is 

 applied to the affected muscles, as are also occasionally fomentations and 

 galvanism, and subcutaneous injections of strychnine are sometimes given. 

 If there is no sign of improvement in three or four weeks a blister is 

 applied, or a seton tape inserted over the extensor muscles. Gentle 

 exercise is now given, and should be increased daily. 



THE ULNAR NERVE 



This nerve is sometimes referred to as the cubito-plantar. Its fibres 

 are derived chiefly from the inferior primary divisions of the first and 

 second dorsal nerves. 



Leaving the plexus, the nerve passes downwards and backwards 

 behind the axillary artery and vein, which it separates from the musculo- 

 spiral nerve. It crosses the long branch of the subscapular artery and 

 the artery to the latissimus dorsi muscle, and subsequently follows the 

 course of the brachial vessels. 



It crosses the deep humeral artery, and a short distance below the 

 spot where this branch is given off from the brachial the nerve recedes 

 from the brachial vessels, and, taking a course which is more obHquely 

 downwards and backwards, crosses the inner surface of the small head 

 of the triceps extensor cubiti muscle. It is here covered by the 

 scapulo-ulnaris. Continuing in this direction beneath the last men- 

 tioned muscle, it arrives at the inner aspect of the olecranon process of 

 the ulna. 



