34 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 



warm water ; and the bandage made use of should be one of 

 proper length and breadth, and of suitable material. Those we 

 use are two yards in length, three-and-a-half inches in breadth, 

 and made of Russia duck. Pains also should be taken in the 

 application of the bandage. Every stable-boy thinks he can put on 

 a bandage. There is a great deal of difference, however, in simply 

 rolling a bandage round a horse's leg as a man would roll a hay- 

 band round it, and applying one in a proper manner. 



As soon as all signs of inflammation have departed, should 

 lameness continue, the best of all applications is a blister upon the 

 joint: indeed, in cases wherein the blister is not, or cannot be, 

 applied immediately upon the diseased joint, but is to be put on 

 at a distance from it, as in foot-joint lameness, it may be had 

 recourse io prior to the cessation of the inflammation, nay, early 

 in the complaint, so long as a good blood-letting or two has had 

 the precedence. A blister we have much predilection for in 

 these and many other cases is the acetum cantharidum : it can be 

 neatly and cleanly applied with a paint-brush, and being, with 

 warm water, four-and-twenty hours afterwards, sponged off, the 

 sponging from day to day being continued, providing care be 

 taken, little or no Toss of hair will be sustained. Liniments, such 

 as the ammonia, turpentine, &c., are by some practitioners em- 

 ployed : for our own part, we have not seen such benefit derived 

 from their use as from that of the sweating blister. Indeed, when 

 the case is of long standing, or one of relapse, nothing short of a 

 full-strength blister need be applied. 



One part, and that the most essential, nay, indispensable part of 

 the treatment, still calls for mention, and that is, the repose of the 

 affected limb; and the only way in which to such a patient as a 

 horse we can secure this is, to put him into a state of absolute 

 rest ; to the carr3dng of which most desirable object into effect, a 

 stall is to be preferred to a loose box. 



Further ; all we have to say is, that, in the treatment of joint 

 lamenesses, both the owner of the lame horse and the veterinary 

 practitioner in attendance upon him, ought to be in possession of 

 the virtue yclept patience : they oftentimes turning out protracted 

 and troublesome cases; and, moreover, such cases as will to a 



