282 THE PRACTICE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE. 



a mallet is an old method of detecting the presence of 

 disease in the hip-joint, a shock being thereby com- 

 municated to the hip-joint, when the presence of disease 

 will often be made manifest by the animal showing pain, 

 and on being trotted out the lameness is observed to have 

 been increased by the operation. In case the lameness, etc., 

 be not increased by percussion the fact should not be 

 received by any means as absolute proof of the absence of 

 disease in the articulation. 



Treatment. — Absolute rest is imperative. Fomentations 

 can scarcely be overdone, and should be applied for hours 

 at a time, or cold applications may be used instead of hot, 

 according to the state of the weather. Powerful counter- 

 irritants are also indicated. The French recommend an 

 operation by which the muscles over the articulation are 

 divided, and the articulation being laid bare the hot iron is 

 applied to it ; but such an operation is very severe, and one 

 not to be recommended in any but exceptional cases, in 

 which all other means of treatment have been tried with- 

 out benefit. 



SPRAIN OF THE GLUTEUS MAXIMUS. 



One of the heads of the gluteus maximus is attached to 

 the trochanter major, j)asses over the convexity, and is 

 inserted into the ridge immediately below. This muscle 

 may suffer from injuries, as sprains, etc., due to violent 

 exertion, slipping, and various other causes. The injury 

 having been received, inflammation may occur in conse- 

 quence, and in some cases may extend to the bone. 



Symptoms. — Sprain of the gluteus maximus is very diffi- 

 cult to distinguish from hip-joint lameness, and sometimes 

 from lameness situated in the hock. It, however, does not 

 give rise to symptoms as severe as those observed in hip- 

 joint affections. The same peculiar rising and falling of 



