BROKEN KNEES. 209 



may prove a vexation to tlie owner of the horse, from the 

 prospect of leaving behind its mark for life. However, our 

 business is a very simple affair. In the first place, the 

 wounded parts must be thoroughly cleansed with warm 

 water, care being taken to eradicate every portion of dirt. 

 This done, it will be questionable how far it is advisable 

 to draw the divided integument together by means of suture. 

 It is a practice I never resort to : I find, the wound must 

 granulate ; therefore for granulation I generally prepare it. 

 Any inflammation which may arise must be met by fomen- 

 tation, &c. The horse should not be turned into a loose 

 box; but for two or three days a cradle should be worn, to 

 prevent the wound being bitten. Should the part not 

 proceed kindly, use any digestive but apply it gently, after- 

 wards dressing with tincture of benzoin, or compound tinc- 

 ture of myrrh. Towards the end a solution of blue vitriol, 

 &c., may be required to repress such granulations as look 

 weakly. 



Cicatrization, ever tedious, is rendered more troublesome 

 in broken knees, from the accident occurring upon a joint 

 of much motion — that is, a joint much used ; for the flexion 

 of the part stretches the skin, tearing the wound open 

 afresh. We must therefore exert patience, for we are pos- 

 sessed of no power to hasten such cases. 

 . A mark may remain, but that circumstance must depend 

 on the extent of the injury which the true skin has sus- 

 tained. Unless the mischief has been extensive, it commonly 

 happens that the severed skin stretches, and contracts fresh 

 union ; in such cases only a sort of seam is left, which the 

 hair grows oveY and conceals. Supposing the skin to be 

 much bruised, or supposing the space to be filled up by 

 cicatrization to be large, the scar will amount to a 

 blemish : a circumstance of consequence to the value of a 

 horse. In some instances, where the bare place or blemish 

 has been but slight, shaving the hair off the knee — or 

 better, ofl^ both knees — with soap and razor, and, sub- 

 sequently, blistering them has succeeded in obliterating the 

 mark : the chief objection to this experiment is the time it 



I. 14 



