TREATMENT AFTER FIRING. 167 



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 hypersemic 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 the beneficial action of firing is often 

 attributed. 



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 an active compression resembling that produced by 

 an elastic bandage. The treatment of the patient differs 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 inflam- 

 mation 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 synovial sac 

 has been opened synovia is discharged, sometimes in large quantities, 

 forming a yellowish-grey albuminous layer, 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 by exercise and massage. The hair rapidly 

 grows again, and almost entirely masks the little smooth cicatrices 

 left by the cautery. This is one of the chief advantages of the 

 method. 



Whatever the degree of firing or the mode employed, a certain 

 period of rest is requisite to permit of the gradual subsidence of 

 inflammation and its effects. As a rule, after the lapse of the second 

 or third week following operation it is well to walk the patient daily 

 for ten to twenty minutes. When the fired surface has recovered 

 from the action of the blister, the animal may be sent to grass, or 



