226 Diseases of the Horse. 



advocate nothing but a dry bandage ; others a wet one, 

 moistened with cold or hot water, carbolic acid water, crea- 

 sote and water, *tar, petroleum solution of borax, and many- 

 other substances. Wet clay has been praised. And there 

 are a great many ointments, balsams, oils, etc. 



Whisky and water, equal parts, either simple or contain- 

 ing one grain of corrosive sublimate to the pint, is an excel- 

 lent dressing. 



4. To Prevent Inflammation. The older surgeons had a 

 great fear of ^'wound fever,^' and to prevent it were wont to 

 bleed and starve their patients after an injury. This notion 

 has long since disappeared from human surgery, but still 

 holds its grounds with some veterinarians. It is a pernicious 

 error. 



All that is needed to prevent too violent reaction after a 

 wound — and that is what was meant by wound fever — is to 

 keep the animal quiet, and if feverish symptoms appear, to 

 put an ounce of saltpetre in the drink, night and morning, 

 and administer a gentle purge. If there is much pain, noth- 

 ing equals a full dose of opium, either in the shape of lauda- 

 num by the mouth or of morphia beneath the skin. 



The dressings on the wound should be neatly and com- 

 fortably applied, and then not often changed. Cloths wet 

 with weak carbolic acid water two or three times a day are 

 never approached by flies or maggots, a point that must al- 

 ways be watched in the lower animals. 



Often the wound is not seen for purposes of treatment 

 until days after it has occurred, and after it has become foul, 

 ulcerous, bad smelling, with ragged edges and perhaps filled 

 with maggots. 



Here the first step Is to clean and disinfect it thoroughly. 

 To kill the maggots it may be freely sprinkled with calomel. 

 This will penetrate into the recesses of the wound and 

 destroy them promptly. Ragged edges and pieces of dead 



