468 SHOULDER sprain. 



an act which will put money in his pocket. Absolute rest, 

 however, is indispensable ; and constitutional adjuncts, as 

 cooling diet, and pure cool air, will assist the other means 

 adopted. If the injury be recent, bathe the part with the 

 coldest water that can be procured ; but if the sprain has 

 been done some time, apply fomentations and warm poul- 

 tices. Should the tumefaction be great, puncture the part 

 all over, and encourage bleeding with hot water. If it is 

 a flexor muscle that has suffered, put on a high-heeled 

 shoe. These first measures being over, apply pressure to 

 the part, and keep it constantly there, unless the aggrava- 

 tion of the symptoms suggest its removal. This is now 

 readily done by means of the vulcanized India rubber, be- 

 neath which, and over the place of injury, may be put a 

 piece of spongeo-piline that has been soaked in warm 

 water. Frequent blisters have sometimes done good, but 

 not nearly so often as is generally imagined. It is a com- 

 mon practice to fire the horse that has a chronic indura- 

 tion springing from an old sprain ; but there must be magic 

 in the iron which is to remove an already organized sub- 

 stance. That end, however, is sometimes the consequence 

 of continued pressure, which can produce absorption of 

 bone or muscle ; and that is best attained through one of 

 the vulcanized India rubber bandages before alluded to. 



SHOULDER SPRAIN. 



What is now generally known by the term shoulder 

 sprain, appears to consist in an unnatural extension of the 

 muscular or hgamentous parts which connect the scapula 

 and humerus to the trunk ; and which parts, it must be 

 evident, are very liable to this kind of injury, from the 

 great extent of motion the shoulder-blade enjoys. A 

 shoulder strain is, therefore, the consequence of a side 

 wrench, which, by separating the fore legs too widely, puts 

 these parts suddenly upon the stretch. The adductor 

 muscles are frequently the sufferers : sometimes, however, 

 the ligaments of the articulations, both scapular and hume- 

 ral, are affected. As Mr. Percivall, however, justly ob- 

 serves, in the last part of his Hippo-pathology, which is the 

 best and most compendious work upon the diseases of the 

 horse that has hitherto appeared in the English language. 



