ZOZ TIIE MODERN HOUSE DOCTOR. 



stimulants are indicated ; and so on to the end. If the physician 

 has learned to interpret the language of nature, he is indeed her 

 handmaid. In the case of hip disease occurring in children — the 

 natural cure of which is anchylosis — physicians enjoin rest, which 

 favors union of the diseased bones. If such means favor anchylosis 

 in the human subject, we cannot dispense with them when treat- 

 ing the horse. The author has tried such means, and is satisfied 

 that he is on the right track. In all cases, then, of early disease 

 of this character, whether it be periosteal, bony, cartilaginous, 

 librous, or muscular, cooling lotions, fomentations, light diet, and 

 rest are the means most calculated to do good, whether the in- 

 tentions of nature are anchylosis or not. In chronic cases we 

 use aeetate of cantharides, applied daily, until the parts appear 

 hot and tender; we then substitute cold water bandages, and 

 repeat the process if necessary. 



STRAIN OF JOINTS OK MUSCLES. 



What we understand by strain is a common wrench, stretching 

 a fibre, tendon, or ligament beyond its physiological capacity, 

 with or without extravasation of blood, generally followed by 

 pain, lameness, and sometimes deformity. In human practice, 

 the word sprain is used to signify an incomplete luxation, accom- 

 panied with stretching, and more or less laceration of the liga- 

 ments of a joint, and sometimes with rupture of a tendon. Both 

 terms appear to apply to the same state ; yet, as strain is the 

 word generally used in horse practice, we prefer it to the other. 

 A strain in the horse is a very different affair from what it is in 

 man ; for rest — which is the principal means of cure — cannot 

 be insured ; when the patient, instead of cooperating with us in 

 keeping the limb quiet, often keeps it in constant motion, thus 

 counteracting our best methods of cure. Then, again, if a man 

 sprains a wrist or ankle, he immediately adopts the best method 

 of cure, and keeps the' limb quiet until the inflammatory symp- 

 toms have subsided. But strain occurring in a horse is not 

 thought much of by the majority of horsemen ; and therefore 

 the services of a physician are not called in until the horse is as 

 lame as a kitten. 



