254 THE PRACTICE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE. 



case the bleeding vessel cannot be secured, recourse must 

 be had to plugging, or filling up the cavity of the wound 

 to check the hajmorrhage. In a majority of cases the 

 haemorrhage may be effectually arrested by inserting, and 

 allowing the plug to remain within the cavity of the 

 wound for a period of twenty-four hours, or, if necessary, 

 longer, to guard against further hsemorrhage. The plug 

 should consist of tow, cotton batting, or some similar 

 material, and it may be necessary in some cases to saturate 

 it thoroughly with some styptic before inserting, as 

 Monsel's solution, or some of the many preparations of iron, 

 lead, etc. After all danger of a secondary haemorrhage is 

 past, the plug may be carefully removed, and the wound 

 thoroughly cleansed by syringing with tepid water ; and any 

 foreign body that may be in the wound should be now re- 

 moved, in case it was not removed at first. The search for 

 foreign bodies should be careful and thorough. It is 

 astonishing how foreign bodies will become imbedded in the 

 tissues, and remain for weeks, and even months in some 

 cases, and that, too, without their presence being sus- 

 pected in a great many cases. They have at the Ontario 

 Veterinary College a stick, about ten inches in length by an 

 inch in thickness, which was embedded in the pectoral 

 muscles of a horse for six weeks without its presence ever 

 being suspected. They also have another piece of wood, 

 three inches in length by half an inch in thickness, which 

 was embedded in the pectoral muscles of a colt for a period 

 of three months. So the practitioner should be very careful 

 to remove all foreign bodies that may be present in a wound, 

 -as, although the wound may heal, it will most certainly 

 break out again at some future time ; and when a wound 

 heals and repeatedly breaks out, it should be a fact signifi- 

 cant enough to cause the practitioner to suspect the presence 

 •of some foreign body in the part. It may be necessary in 



