384 SURGICAL OPERATIONS. 



difficulty being to retain them in the desired position. They 

 may be held in contact either by stitches, plasters, or ban- 

 dages, or by a union of the three. Stitches are only re- 

 quired when the wound gapes to a considerable degree, as it 

 \\'\\\ always do when running across a muscle. They may 

 be applied in the following manner. Transfix one side of 

 the wound with a curved needle with a well-waxed thread, 

 forcing the needle from without obliquely towards the bot- 

 tom of the wound, then carry it through the opposite side 

 from within, taking care to bring it out about the same dis- 

 tance from the edge as that at which it entered on the other 

 margin. The needle must now be removed, by cutting the 

 threads close to its eye, and while the ends are allowed to 

 hang loose. Your assistant will now bring the sides of the 

 wound together as accurately as possible, and retain them 

 there till you have tied the corresponding ends of the threads 

 in a double knot. 



BANDAGING. 



Adhesive plaster is in some instances of service, but upon 

 the whole ought rather to be dispensed with, being of diffi- 

 cult application, and moreover tending to the accumulation 

 of filth and the discomfort of the animal. Nothing will be 

 found to serve the purpose of supporting the parts so well as 

 a properly adjusted bandage, which is useful in every in- 

 stance, and sure to stay on if sewed here and there to the 

 fleece. The bandage should never be omitted where the 

 wound has any tendency to gape, as too great a strain upon 

 the stitches cannot but lead to delay in the healing process. 

 In bandaging a limb or part of a limb, commence always at 

 the foot, and proceed upwards ; in other parts of the body, 

 begin where you find it most convenient. Before applying 

 a bandage to a wounded surface, a couple of pieces of old 

 linen or cotton rag should be folded into pads or compresses, 

 and laid one on each side of the cut, and over these the ban- 

 dage should be rolled, evenly and with moderate and uniform 

 firmness. By this plan the separated surfaces are support- 

 ed and preserved in close juxtaposition, especially at the 

 bottom of the wound, a thing of some importance where the 

 cavity is deep. Transverse cuts of the limbs of sheep re- 

 quire more careful and more complicated treatment than cuts 

 in other parts, as there is a constant tendency of the edges 

 to retract. This retraction of the edges may be in some de- 



