THE MODERN HORSE DOCTOR. 241 



cathartic medicine should be given to lessen the heart's action; 

 anodyne fomentation of hops may prove useful ; if high heat pre- 

 vails in the surface of the lame region, refrigerating lotions — vin- 

 egar and water — are indicated; we have frequently used arnica 

 with good effect. Very little benefit can be derived from any 

 treatment unless the animal be kept at rest, and on a light diet. 

 Some will say that this is very simple treatment; but it is suitable^ 

 and the author has frequently essentially mitigated deep-seated 

 inflammations by time and just the same sort of treatment. 



Ulcerations of the articulating surfaces of the bones comprising 

 the elbow joint are more difficult of cure, and to the non-pro- 

 fessional man still more difficult to detect. It may be present 

 without any of the physical signs by which deep-seated diseases 

 in more sensitive tissues are discoverable. If a horse, however, 

 is lame in this joint for a great length of time, and the lameness 

 gradually grows worse, and is always greater during exercise or 

 work, though a few days' rest improves the action of the limb, 

 yet seldom cures it, we may suspect ulceration. 



Ulceration may arise from sub-acute or synovial inflammation 

 from external injuries, such as a kick or blow. "VYe have a 

 specimen of fracture of the ulna, (point of the elbow,) and ex- 

 tensive ulcerations and osseous deposits on the bones entering 

 into this joint, following the injury ; the fracture had united, but 

 the horse was subsequently destroyed, in consequence of the 

 incurability of the ulcerations. Ulceration also follows a breach 

 of the synovial membrane. 



Treatment. — The bowels are to be kept in a soluble state by 

 means of saline aperients and messes of scalded shorts ; these 

 counteract a tendency to constipation, which is sure to follow the 

 rest absolutely necessary for the cure. The treatment should not 

 be very active at first, for the ulceration may be only a sequence 

 of injury to the synovial membrane. It is sufficient to attend to 

 constitutional treatment, subdue any morbid diathesis that may 

 exist, and sweat the parts by applying the following two or three 

 times a day : — 



Tincture of balm of gilead, . . . Bounces, 



Oil of cedar, 1 ounce, 



New rurn, 1 pint. 



21 



