DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 357 



it should be done softly and gentl}^, not with force of arms, nor with 

 the expectation of producing an astonishing effect by heavy dosing 

 and main strength in a few hours; it should be after the manner of a 

 siege rather than that of a charge. The object is to induce the drugs 

 to permeate the affected part until the entire mass is penetrated. Of 

 course, cases will be encountered which resist all forms of medical 

 treatment. The tumor remains as a fixed fact; it continues to grow; 

 it is large and pendulous at the elbow; its weight is estimated in 

 pounds; it is not an eyesore merely, but an uncomfortable, burden- 

 some mass, excoriating all the surrounding parts and being itself 

 excoriated in turn; mild treatment has failed and is no longer to be 

 relied on. 



Resort must now be made to surgical methods, and here again we 

 must choose between the ligature, the cautery, and the knife. Each 

 has its advocates among practitioners. In a case like the present, one 

 of the difficulties arises in connection with the application and retention 

 of bandages and other dressings after the amputation has been per- 

 formed. It is a somewhat ditScult problem, owing to the conformation 

 and proportions of the body of the patient, and involves the exercise 

 of a consideraljle amount of practical ingenuity to adjust and retain 

 the appliances necessary to insure a good final result. 



In the long description of the treatment of the varieties of capped 

 elbow I have thus far omitted any mention of one method which is 

 practiced and commended by not a few. I refer to the use of setons, 

 introduced through the tumor. My OTyn experience and the observa- 

 tion of many failures from this method led me to abandon it. 



CAPPED KNEE. 



The passage of the tendons of the extensor muscle of the cannon, as 

 it glides in front of the knee joint, is assisted by one of the little bursas 

 before mentioned, and when this becomes the seat of a dropsical col- 

 lection a hj^groma is formed and the knee is " capped." Though some- 

 what analogous in its history to the capped elbow, there are points of 

 difference between them. Their development may prove a source of 

 great annoyance from the fact of the blemish which they constitute. 



Cause. — The capped knee presents itself under various conditions. 

 It is sometimes the result of a bruise or contusion, often repeated, 

 inflicted upon himself by a horse addicted to the habit of pawing while 

 in the stable and striking the front of the stall with his knees. Another 

 class of patients is formed of those weak-kneed animals which are sub- 

 ject to falling and l)ruising the front of the joint against the ground, 

 the results not being alwaj's of the same character. 



Symptoms. — The lesion may be a simple bruise, or it may be a severe 

 contusion with swelling, edema, heat, and pain. The joint becomes so 

 stiff and rigid that it interferes with locomotion and yet under careful 

 simple treatment the trouble may disappear. 



