118 WOUNDS. 



The bleeding is generally arrested with most difficulty when the 

 horn is broken off in some of the fights among the cattle. The bone 

 of the horn is full of blood-vessels, and it is only by plaister after 

 plaister of tar that a compress is made all round the horn, and throuo-h 

 •which the blood cannot penetrate. These plaisters should not be 

 removed for many days, otherwise the bleeding from such a vascular 

 part Vv'ill return. 



Of all the wounds, how^ever, to which cattle are occasionally ex- 

 posed, the most dangerous are those about the joints, and especially 

 when the joint itself is penetrated. The ox is not so subject to this 

 as the horse ; but the fetlock and the knee are occasionally deeply 

 wounded, and the joint laid open, either by falling, or by being bru- 

 tally wounded by a fork. 



Here, as in all other wounds, the first thing to be done is carefully 

 to wash away all dirt and gravel. The probe must then be introduced ; 

 and the depth to which it will penetrate, and, more particularly, the 

 grating sound which will be heard when it comes into contact with 

 the bone, will generally determine whether the joint has been injured. 

 If any doubt remains about this, a poultice should be applied. This 

 will not only abate or prevent inflammation, but if the joint has been 

 penetrated, the synovia, or joint oil, will escape, and appear upon the 

 poultice in the form of a glairy, j^ellowish fluid. Then there is no 

 doubt as to the course to be pursued. The flow of this must be stopped, 

 and that immediately. It was placed there to be interposed between 

 the ends of the bones, and thus to prevent them rubbing against each 

 other, and becoming irritated or inflamed. The membrane with which 

 the heads of the bones are covered is in the highest decree sensitive- 

 and with the slightest injury produces inflammation, attended by the 

 extremest torture. There is no agony equal to that caused by an 

 opened joint. We must then confine the interposed joint oil, and 

 prevent this dreadful friction between the membranes. 



There are two ways of accomplishing this. That which seems to 

 be the most humane is to place a small compress on the part, exactly 

 covering the wound ; to bind it down tight, and not to remove it for 

 many days. Yet it has often happened that when the compress has 

 at length been taken off, the joint oil has flowed as quickly as before: 

 therefore, I believe, we must go back to the old method, and apply 

 the hot iron to the wound. The iron, being of a dull red heat, should 

 be run lightly across the surface of the wound in various directions, 

 the consequence of which will be that so much inflammation and 

 swelling will usually be produced, as fairly to block up the orifice 

 with that which soon becomes organized, or converted into the same 

 substance as that in contact with which it is placed, and thus the 

 opening into the joint is securely and for ever stopped; or, should the 

 joint oil in a verj' few cases afterwards flow a little again, a re-appli- 

 cation of the iron will put an end to the business: the sore may then 

 be treated as a common wound. 



In many cases a lotion composed of corrosive sublimate dissolved 



