248 Local Injuries. 



as a healing fluid, and when the shoe can be borne put a 

 movable leather sole beneath to keep out dirt, &c. In 

 dry weather, simple removal of the nail in recent cases is 

 mostly sufficient, especially at the time the injury has 

 been inflicted. 



Puncture of the Coffin Joint is often a serious matter. 

 Lameness is extreme, especially as synovia flows con- 

 siderably. The remedy is the hot iron to seal up the 

 orifice. The fever attendant upon punctured wounds is 

 often of a severe character, when the febrifuges drench 

 No. 3 may be called for every three or four hours. 



Poll Evil. — This, with the following, are instances 

 of bruising with abscess. 

 Horses passing through low 

 doorways, and housed in 

 low buildings, strike the top 

 of the head, and the result 

 is stiffness, poking the nose 

 forward, swelling of the poll, 

 stiffness preceding abscess in fear of being handled, and 

 Poll Evil. eventually, formation and 



bursting of an abscess. 

 Treatment. — In the early stages, when little pain, &c, 

 is present, the swelling may be dissipated by cooling 

 means, purgatives, &c, followed by iodine ointment. 

 When pus is formed evacuate at once, the animal being 

 cast for the purpose, the wound being kept clean and 

 healing promoted by applications of " Sanitas," astrin- 

 gents, &c. In old standing cases bones and ligaments 

 are often seriously involved, the animal being found dead 

 from implication of the spinal cord or brain. 



Fistula of the Withers arises from ill-fitting saddles, 

 falls, bruises, &c, in rolling on the ground, and disease 

 of the bones attends long standing cases. Deep-seated 

 abscess first occurs, and the passage leading to it has a 

 thick fibrous lining which prevents closure by healing. 



Treatment as for Poll Evil in the early stages. In 

 fistula, free incisions, caustic injections, Nos. 6, 7, 8, or 

 9. Diseased bone needs removal, for which the vete- 

 rinary surgeon is indispensable. Hypertrophy of the 



