GENERAL DISEASES OF THE BONES. 799 



It. all cases the use of counter-irritants must be stopped, and 

 soothing measures resorted to when it becomes evident that 

 active inflammation has been set up anew in the bone. A long 

 period of rest is essential to allow of the hardening of the newly 

 formed bony tissue or of the old bone which has been softened 

 or otherwise altered by disease. 



Matter forming in the interior of a bone is to be evacuated 

 by boring down to it with a circular saw (trephine). Matter 

 forming between the bone and its investing membrane must be 

 promptly evacuated with a sharp knife or lancet. 



Simple ulceratio7i is to be treated like an ordinary wound, the 

 pressure or other cause of its existence having been first re- 

 moved. A nourishing diet and a course of tonics (cinchona, 

 gentian, etc.), are usually demanded. 



A dead bone should be removed. If a simple scale or film on 

 the surface, it may be taken off with a sharp knife or chisel. 

 If larger, the bone-forceps or saw may be necessary. It may 

 sometimes be needful to remove a piece of live bone with the 

 circular saw, to make way for the extraction of a dead portion 

 imprisoned within. Should the outer fibrous covering of the 

 bone be preserved intact, new bone may be formed in place of 

 the old, but never so perfect in form, and, as a rule, the exten- 

 sive loss of an important bone, in one of the lower animals, 

 renders it useless and should warrant its destruction. 



In no case should a cutting operation on a bone be under- 

 taken while the soft parts around it are in a state of acute in- 

 flammation, as, although the diseased or dead parts should be 

 removed, the adjacent bone is likely to take on unhealthy 

 action and to prove worse than at first. 



In case of new bony deposits and tumours, it is rarely desir- 

 able to resort to cutting instruments, unless when they have a 

 broad mass and narrow neck, connecting them to the parent 

 bone. In this case they can be laid bare and removed with 

 bone forceps or chisel. Other forms are best left to nature 



