258 INJURIES. 



the pastern : thence carried over the neck, with which the foot may be 

 forcibly drawn forward and elevated. A more summary way of proceed- 

 ing, and one that often succeeds, is to frighten or flog the patient, to 

 make him spring forward and exert his hind parts ; during which efforts 

 the patella will, by muscular contraction, get drawn into its place again. 

 Mr. King, of Stanmore, was called to a case he reduced in this manner ; 

 and the next day was informed that the horse was " worse than ever" being 

 a cripple in both hind legs ; and, indeed, so he found him, for now both 

 patellas were dislocated : his remedy consisted in flogging his patient well 

 with a waggon-whip : and it proved perfectly availing, both reductions be- 

 coming spontaneously effected, and no future complaint was made. The 

 sooner the reduction is attempted the less difficulty is the operator likely 

 to experience ; though it is not the replacing, but the retention of the lone 

 in its situation afterwards^ which is likely to occasion embarrassment. In 

 one case that occurred to Mr. Percivall, the bone, after being reduced, 

 slipped out again " half a dozen times within the space of ten minutes ;" 

 causing him " to despair of keeping it in its place at all." He, however, at 

 length succeeded " by himself retaining the bone in its place with his hand, 

 for some time after the reduction." In another case, the luxation returned 

 six weeks after replacement ; half of which period the horse had been 

 performing duty. In this instance, after getting rid of some inflamma- 

 tion, by bleeding, purging, and refrigerants, Mr. Percivall blistered the 

 stifle, which had the effect of preventing any relapse. When a blister fails, 

 I recommend the firing-iron to be tried. In all cases, abstinence from 

 motion is indispensable ; the animal should be kept ten days or a fort- 

 night racked up. 



Any blister or stimulant applied, from the inflammation it causes, pro- 

 duces, first, a soreness about the part; this indisposes the animal to 

 make use of it ; and, secondly, a subcutaneous, or intercellular, effusion ; 

 this has the effect of pillowing the bone, and preventing another dis- 

 placement of it. Mr. Siddall, V.S., R.H.G., says he rubs 01. Tereb. upon 



the stifle. 



In all Mr. Percivall's cases the displacement of the bone has been out- 

 wards, a circumstance arising from the external condyle of the femur, 

 being less prominent anteriorly than the internal one. Mr. Cherry, how- 

 ever, relates an instance in which the dislocation was inwards, occasioning 

 the limb to be drawn upwards. 



Mr. Gloag, in a letter to me (Dec, 1853) says, " Several cases of slip- 

 ping out of the patella from sheer debility have been noticed. I noticed 

 gome time since a case of a grey horse, which had been suddenly affected 

 with stringhalt in the off hind leg, when at field, to a most remarkable 

 degree. On careful examination, the following day, I found it to arise 

 from the patella being partially dislocated outward, so that, by keeping 



