WOUNDS.] 



MODERN VETERIXAKV PRACTICE. 



[worxus. 



but tlioro is little faith to bo put in tlioin. | bocoine useful in tlio suppression of lircinorr- 

 Give bran uiaslies, or lialf bran nnd oats made lia<»o on tlio prineiple of pressure; tlic eau- 



tlanij) : it' tlien- is uiueii ilillu-ulty in uiluiinis- 

 tering the fever-bulls, give of 



Glauber Salts 4 oz. 



Linseed Mt-al - do. 



Hot Water 1 'P'^rt 



tery-caustics and styplies are otberwiHo ap- 

 plied. 



Tbe different tbin'^a tliat Imvo been praised 

 as infallible, in tbeir application to wounded 

 arteries, would seldom or ever bavo succeeded 



I^Iix well together for a diiiik, ami repeat it | without compression. This was always requi- 

 moriiing and night. In mixing tbe meal witli site, even in the using of caustics, which were 



bound on with suflieient tightness to resist tho 

 impulse of the blood in the artery and tho 

 premature separation of the eschar, occasioned 

 by the actual or potential cautery. 



AVhen tbe blood does not issue from any 

 particular vessel, but from numerous small 

 ones, compression is preferable to the ligature. 

 Tbe em{)loyment of the latter renders it 

 necessary to tie the whole surface of the 

 wound. The sides of the wound should be 

 brouf^ht accurately together, compressers placed 

 over tbe part, and a roller applied with suffi- 

 cient tightness to make effectual pressure, but 

 not so forcibly as to produce a danger of tho 

 circulation being completely stopped. If com- 

 pression can ever safely be trusted in bleedings 

 from large arteries, it is when these vessels lie 

 immediately over a bone, against which they 

 can be advantageously compressed. 



The ligature, being well known to be a safe 

 and easy means of stopping haBuiorrbage, is 

 attended with much less pain tlian former 

 methods. It may, indeed, be set down as a 

 rule, that where large arteries are wounded, 

 no styptic application whatever should bo 

 trusted; but iminediate recourse should be 

 had to the ligature, as being, when properly 

 applied, the most simple and safe of all 

 methods. In explaining the action of the 

 li (mature, when applied round an artery, with- 

 out including the surrounding parts, we bavo 

 found the internal coat of the vessel is torn 

 throu"h by it. If the ligature is tied round 

 with sufficient tightness, it will cut through 

 tbe inner and middle coats ; and although it is 

 immediately removed, the vessels always be- 

 come permanently impervious at tbe part 

 which was tied as far as the tirst collateral 

 lied to that side of the wound which is branches, above and below tbe obstructed 



parts. This division of the internal and 

 middle coats of tbe artery, produces an ob- 

 struction to the circulation of blood through 



211 



the above, do so lirst in a basin with a little 

 cold water, to prevent its clotting together. 



^vou^■DS of the sheaths of tendons. 



This sort of wounds frequently occur both 

 in tbe bind and fore legs, during hunting, 

 staking, and tho stubbing-in of coppices. 

 Tbev are also sometimes produced by the 

 stable-fork, and are often attended with con- 

 siderable pain. Tbeir treatment differs in no 

 respect whatever from that laid down in the 

 description of wounds of tbe joints. 



WOUNDS OF THE ARTERIES. 

 Every one who pretends to deal with the 

 wounds of a horse, should have an intimate 

 knowledge of tbe course of the arteries, so 

 that in performing operations he may avoid 

 wounding them. For stopping the flow of 

 blood there are several methods ; and unless 

 they are performed with perfect coolness, they 

 are apt to be done in such a manner as may 

 be tbe cause of proving fatal to tbe patient. 

 How necessary, therefore, is it that every 

 practitioner should have a thorough acquain- 

 tance with the arterial system. Bleeding 

 from arteries is stopped generally by compres- 

 sion and astringents, by ligatures, by the actual 

 and potential cautery ; sometimes by styptics ; 

 and not unfrequently, if the artery be only 

 wounded, by dividing it altogether. 



It must be plain to every one who under- 

 stands tbe course of tbe circulation, that pres- 

 sure made on that part of a wounded artery 

 which adjoins the wound nearest the heart, 

 must check the effusion of blood. The cur- 

 rent of blood in the veins, running in tbe 

 opposite direction, requires tbe pressure to be 

 app 



most remote from the heart ; and as pressure 

 is the best means of impeding hasmorrbage, so 

 is it the most effectual. Tbe ligature, the 

 applicatiou of a roller and compressers, only ' its canal 



