178 THE STOCK owner's ADVISER. 



three times a day. The local treatment will consist of fomenta- 

 tion to the loins and the application, three times a day, of equal 

 parts of ammonia, turpentine, and linseed oil. A blister made 

 by mixing one part of powdered cantharides to six of lard may 

 be used with advantage in some cases. It should be applied, 

 about four inches wide by about eighteen inches long, to the 

 dorsal spine or to the spine that is aiTected. It should be washed 

 off at the end of twenty-four hours and the parts greased with 

 lard. 



The diathrodial or true joints are divided into three varie- 

 ties — namely, gliding joints, ball and socket joints, and the 

 hinged joints. The gliding joints are liable to inflammation and 

 ulceration of the articular surface. The bones of these joints 

 are covered by cartilage of incrustation and the cavity lubricated 

 by synovia. The enarthrodia, or ball and socket joints, are in 

 the lower animals seldom diseased, and when they do become 

 diseased, it is generally from a rheumatoid or tubercular dia- 

 thesis. The ginglymoid, or hinged, joints are injured from with- 

 out, and produce an acute and chronic inflammation of the syno- 

 vial membrane, destruction of the articular cartilage, caries, 

 and a calcarious deposit. There will be a defective secretion of 

 synovia, a dropsical condition of the articulation, and anchylosis. 



INFLAMMATION OF THE SYNOVIAL MEMBRANE, OR ACUTE 



SYNOVITIS. 



Any true joint in the body may suffer from inflammation of 

 its synovial membrane, but some are more liable than others. In 

 acute synovitis the membrane is congested. Its surface becomes 

 dark red or crimson colored. Its secretion is checked, and later 

 there will be a superalnindant secretion of unhealthy synovia, 

 aqueous in its character, and containing flakes of lymph. This 

 exudation of lymph is confined to the synovial surface, and does 

 not extend to the articular cartilage. In severe cases suppura- 

 tion may take place, and if the disease is not arrested ulceration 

 of the cartilage is sure to follow. 



Cause. — Strains, punctures, rheumatic poison, deposits of 



