WOUNDS. 449 



same accident to other articular cavities. The knee joint is 

 peculiarly liable to very extensive laceration, from the hard 

 state of our roads, and the exertions we put the horse to ; 

 whose tired limbs, making often a feeble effort to recover 

 the effects of a trip, bring him on one or both knees with 

 a violence proportioned to the impetus of the speed he was 

 moving at, the weight of the rider, and the nature of the 

 ground he comes in contact with. Whenever a practitioner 

 is called to a horse with a broken knee or knees, it is a 

 natural supposition he is applied to for one of two pur- 

 poses, — either to ascertain the state of the case, or other- 

 wise at once to set about a cure. 



If called in soon after the accident, we must commence 

 the treatment by very carefully dabbing away any grit, dirt, 

 or other matter which would occasion future irritation. If 

 no synovia appears on the surface, it is more prudent to 

 avoid probing : indeed, in our own opinion, it is better to 

 do this under every circumstance. The synovia being de- 

 tected, no probing can be necessary, as the important fact 

 of a serious injury having happened is ascertained. With 

 regard to curiosity, a surgeon has no business with any 

 such meddling impulse. The welfare of his patient should 

 be his single thought, and experience should tell him the 

 dimensions, depth, or magnitude of the wound, are not at 

 first to be ascertained. Such knowledge is not to be ac- 

 quired until the slough has taken place. For the present, 

 he sees synovia, and that should be sufficient. The result 

 of his practice ought to have apprised him, that it is of 

 little consequence to the termination, whether the knee, or 

 one of the bursal sheaths, proper to the tendons crossing 

 the joint itself, be opened. The one case is as difficult to 

 cure, and will as probably end in death as the other. The 

 irritation which ensues upon both injuries is the same in 

 these cases. The wound is as like to involve neighbouring 

 structures, and the consequences are in every respect simi- 

 lar. Therefore, save for the gratification of curiosity, it 

 does not matter whence the syno^na issues ; and all probing 

 can therefore do no good, ascertain no material fact, and 

 often does vast harm, by starting up irritation ; also breaking 

 down delicate parts, which, if left to themselves, might still 

 further unite. 



