WOUNDS.] 



THE HOESE, AND 



[wounds. 



BROKEN KNEES. 

 Horses, in the act of falling, endeavour, as 

 much as possible, to save their head from com- 

 inf in contact with tlie ground; but if not able 

 in time to put forth their fore leg to do this, 

 tbe knees generally become the sufferers, and, 

 in some cases, to a very considerable extent. 

 In such accidents, great laceration, open joint, 

 and, at least, shaving, as it were, the hair com- 

 Dletely off the knee to a greater or less extent 

 generally occur. 



Should the cavity of the knee be opened, and 

 joi7it oil escape, sufficient instructions as to the 

 proper method of treatment to be adopted, 

 have been given m the article Wounds of the 

 Joints, to which we beg to refer. But when 

 the laceration only extends to the skin, there 

 is only one safe, and, we should say, proper 

 mode of treatment. In the first place, all irri- 

 tating applications are to be avoided ; and, in- 

 stead of them, the knee and surrounding parts 

 should be well bathed with hot water for at 

 least half-an-hour. A poultice, composed of 

 linseed meal and warm water, should then be 

 applied, and continued until the inflammation 

 13 subdued. After this, apply the following: — 



Extract of Saturn 2 drachms. 



Tincture of Myrrh, compound . 2 oz. 



Water 3 do. 



Apply this to the wounded knees, until they 

 are skinned over; then put on a mild blister, 

 which will prevent, in many bad cases, even 

 the appearance of a scar, if well managed. 



This being accomplished, the next thing is 

 to promote the growth of the hair. Many 

 recipes are given to make the hair grow, but 

 most of them are useless ; for nothing iacts 

 specifically in this way. AYIiatever gently 

 stimulates the skin being the most proper for 

 this purpose, use every day a little of the 

 digestive ointment, wliich is an article no stable 

 ouglit to be without ; or use the following, 

 especially if the knees are black : — 



Digestive Ointment . , . . 1 oz. 

 Gunpowder, rubbed fine ... 1 drachm. 



Mix, and rub the part with some of it dally. 



GUN-SHOT WOUNDS. 



Gun-shot wounds are made by hard bodies 

 violently projected from cannons, muskets, and 

 214 



other fire-arms. Those from the rifle, how- 

 ever, occasion by far the greater number. 

 They are the most considerable of the con- 

 tused kind of wounds; and what is to be said 

 of them, will apply, more or less, to all con- 

 tused wounds, according to kind and degree. 

 Daily observation shows that balls which ob- 

 liquely strike a surface, do not penetrate it. 

 but are reflected, although they may be im- 

 pelled with the greatest force, and although 

 the body struck may be as soft and yielding 

 as water. This alteration in the course of the 

 ball, not only occasionally happens on touching 

 the surface of a body, but also sometimes after 

 it has penetrated its substance. A bone or a 

 tendon may change the direction of a ball, if it 

 touches them obliquely. Hence it is manifest 

 how it happens that the track of a gun-shot 

 wound is not always straiglit, and how the 

 balls sometimes run under the integument for 

 a considerable distance, both in the body and 

 the limbs. 



A ball, when it strikes a part of the body, 

 may cause four kinds of injury. JFirsf, it may 

 only occasion a contusion, without penetrating 

 the part, on account of its being too much 

 spent, or on account of the oblique way in 

 which it has struck the surface of the body. 

 Secondly, it may enter and lodge immediately 

 under the surface of a part, in which case, the 

 track of the wound has only one aperture. 

 Thirdly, it may pierce through and through; 

 and then there are two openings, one at the 

 entrance, and the other at the exit of the ball. 

 In such cases, the circumference of the aper- 

 ture, where the shot has entered, is usually 

 depressed ; that of the opening whence it 

 escaped is elevated. At the entrance, there is 

 commonly more contusion than at the exit of 

 the ball; and the former is generally nar- 

 rower; the latter wider, and more irregular, 

 especially when the round smooth figure of 

 tlie ball has been changed by its having struck 

 a bone. Fourthly, a cannon-ball may tear ofi" 

 a whole limb. 



Gun-shot wounds differ very much, according 

 to the kind of body projected, its velocity, and 

 tlie nature and peculiarities of the parts struck 

 by it. The projected bodies are mostly bullets, 

 sometimes cannon-balls. Erom the contusion 

 which the parts sufter on the violent passage 

 of the ball through them, there is most com- 



