TREATMENT AFTER FIRING. izq 



bitten, scratched, or rubbed against neighbouring objects. The best 

 method is either to tie the animal up short to a ring above the manger, 

 apply a cradle or sidestick. or a dressing to the -parts themselves. It 

 is sometimes necessary to use a pair of hobbles connected b)- a short 

 stout stick to limit movement of the legs as much as possible. The 

 crusts become loose towards the eighth, tenth, or fifteenth dav ; to 

 assist separation the parts may be bathed with warm ^^•ater, oi- 

 preferably dressed with an antiseptic ointment. 



If the skin tends to crack, the parts are covered with boric vaseline 

 or glycerine. At a later stage the scabs produced b}' the cautery 

 disappear ; when extending deeply and implicating the whole thickness 

 of the skin they are sometimes very adherent, and only separate after 

 a suppurative inflammation, leaving exuberant granulations, which are 

 followed by indelible scars, the covering of hair never being restored. 



While these processes are going on at the surface the subcutaneous 

 tissues have become hyperasmic and inflamed, infiltrated with an 

 abundant exudate, and the seat of active cellular proliferation. This 

 condition is later followed by resorption, consolidation, and com- 

 pression, results to which firing owes its beneficial action. 



The effects of deep point firing are still more marked. The limb 

 often becomes greatly enlarged, although a free serous discharge occurs 

 through the skin. The small, closely-packed cicatrices in the skin and 

 cellular tissue resulting from such firing form a kind of permanent 

 compress which is much superior to bandages. It is certain that the 

 retraction of these islands of new tissue exerts on the diseased part 

 active compression resembling that produced by an elastic bandage 

 The treatment of the patient difters in no essential respect from that 

 required after superficial firing. The symptoms shown after deep 

 needle firing depend on the depth of penetration and the nature of 

 the tissues involved. Active inflammation always results in the region 

 cauterised. The limb becomes greatly swollen, sometimes very hot 

 and painful, while the animal shows more or less marked fever. 

 Moreover, when a dropsical synovial sac has been opened synovia is 

 frequently discharged, sometimes in large quantities, forming a 

 yellowish-grey albuminous laj^er, which may even flow downwards 

 over the foot or reach the ground. 



At the end of two or three days this synovial discharge hardens, the 

 apertures become obliterated, and the discharge ceases. The crusts 

 separate during the second week ; the scars begin to disappear towards 

 the twentieth day, leaving in their place little reddish cicatrices. 

 Swelling of the parts sometimes persists for a long time, but can be 

 diminished b}' exercise and massage. The hair rapidly grows again, 



9 



