SURGERY. 303 



ronncung, or convex surface, they cause great friction to the 

 tendons that pass over them, and no horse so formed will ever 

 stand fast work young. The firing and blistering, resorted to 

 here, do nothing but mischief, though they often get the credit 

 of eflPecting a cure which is really nature's work. This formation 

 generally improves ai'ter three years old, and the surface of the 

 tendon grooves probably becomes more polished, whilst of course 

 the sinews harden, so that if such horses can be kept to slow, 

 moderate work, like ploughing and harrowing, until four or 

 five years old, they often stand hard fast work very well after 

 that age. 



WOUNDS. 



758,_Xn a state of nature with succulent food, complete 

 liberty, and unpolluted air, the horse will recover rapidly from very 

 serious wounds. 



754.— When an important artery has been severed, and the 

 horse is likely to bleed to death, before any one can be 

 obtained with sufficient skill and the proper appliances to tie it 

 up, the bleeding may be arrested by putting a soft, strong loop of 

 canvas, cloth, or linen very loosely round the limb, on the heart 

 side of the wound, and drawing tight by twisting it Avith a short 

 stick. 



755. — Wounds made with a sharp clean instrument, and 

 attended to before they have been much exposed to air, or any foreign 

 substance, may be sewn together with horse hair, waxed twine, 

 or silver wire, putting no more stitches than are necessary, and 

 tying each stitch separately. This must not be done unless the 

 wound can first be made perfectly clean. The growing together 

 of smooth, clean surfaces in this way, is not so often successful 

 with the horse as with the human subject. The horse will gnaw 

 the stitches if he can get at them. He has the power to move 

 and shake his skin, in a way that we cannot move ours, which 

 severely tries the stitches. Any confined matter in anything like 

 aggravated wounds of the horse, has a strong tendency to corrode, 

 and produce great mischief if it is not let freely off. It is always 

 most dangerous to ckse an outer surface if there is any mischiei' 

 left under it. 



