DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 457 



(4) B}' scabbing, in which the exudation on tne surface of the wound 

 dries up into a firm scab, under which the process of repair goes on 

 by the development of tissue from the deeper cells, as in adhesion. 



Treatment. — In treating clean, incised wounds, attempts should be 

 made to secure healing by primary adhesion, even in the horse. 

 Bleeding should first be arrested, or nearly so, by appljdng a cold 

 or hot sponge, or by tying bleeding vessels, and the lips of the wound 

 should then be closed accurately, without any twisting or overlapping. 

 In small wounds pieces of sticking plaster may be used, the lips of 

 the wound having first been smoothly shaved, so that they may 

 adhere firmly. In larger wounds the wound may be sewed with a 

 curved surgical needle and a silk thread dipped in a solution of 

 carbolic acid. The stitches may be continued from end to end of 

 the wound and the thread prevented from slipping and loosening 

 by a knot at each end; or the stitches may be independent, the two 

 ends being tied together across the wound. In such cases they may 

 be one-quarter to one-third inch apart; or the lips of the wound may 

 be pinned together, the pins in a simple skin wound being inserted 

 one-eighth inch from the edge, and when both lips have been trans- 

 fixed in this way a thread (or hair) carried successively around the 

 two ends of the pin and made to describe a figure 8 will hold the 

 wound close. When the stitching is not continuous from end to end 

 of the wound the apposition of the edges will be rendered more per- 

 fect by the application of strips of sticking plaster in the intervals. 



When efforts at primary union have failed and pus has formed, or 

 fermentative changes have occurred on the raw surfaces and the lips 

 gape more or less, some antiseptic dressing will be required, as in the 

 case of lacerated and contused wounds. 



In cases where an incised wound has 'had foreign bodies or septic 

 ferments introduced into it, these should first be removed. A current 

 of water that has been boiled and cooled is one of the best methods of 

 cleansing a wound, and there is no objection to the addition of one- 

 twentieth of its amount of carbolic acid, as this will tend to destroy 

 anj^ germ life that might otherwise prove fatal to the healing process. 

 Then the wound may be stitched up as if it had been clean, and a 

 daily dressing of carbolic acid 1 part and sweet oil 10 parts may 

 be applied. 



For a wound on the convex surface of a joint, where stitches are 

 not suflicient to keep the lips accurately applied to each other, the 

 movement of the joint may be temporarily abolished by the applica- 

 tion of a splint and bandage, and in any such case the bandage shouM 

 be applied uniformly from the hoof upward, as otherwise the limb 

 below the bandage is liable to swell or even die. 



The treatment of contused^ 2^^^^^^'^'-'"''^^ -> ^^^ lacerated \SQ\n\(Sii demands 

 cleansing and antiseptic applications as for an incised wound, but as 



