344 DADD'S veterinary medicine and surgery. 



takes of this kind, all going to show how very apt people are to 

 be deceived regarding the seat of lameness in horses. In short, 

 judging from my own experience, and the testimony offered by 

 other professional men, it may be confidently asserted that luxation 

 of the patella is quite a rare accident. These remarks are intended 

 for the instruction of the non-professional reader. Persons con- 

 \ersant with the anatomy of the horse are not expected to make 

 such a mistake as the one just alluded to ; hence they do not stand 

 in aeed of the author's advice. 



Method of reducing dislocation of the patella. — The means of re- 

 duction are very simple. The patella will be found on the lower 

 and outer condyle of the thigh bone. With one hand let the 

 operator grasp the leg, just below the hock, and raise it from the 

 ground in an upward and forward direction ; the other hand em- 

 braces the stifle bone, and by a simultaneous action of pressing the 

 latter inward, and the bones that compose the joint backward, the 

 reduction is soon effected. The bone, in returning to its natural 

 situation, emits a sound such as usually follows that of a dislocated 

 bone just at the moment when slipping into the socket. A recent 

 dislocation, when reduced, needs no after-treatment, except th'j 

 occasional application of an astringent and a couple of days' rest ; 

 but, should the bone have remained unreduced for many hours, we 

 may infer that the muscles and ligaments have been stretched or 

 distended too long in one direction, and that, on reduction, the 

 fibers of the muscles concerned may not immediately contract; 

 hence the bone is apt to slip off its articulatory surface again. To 

 guard against this mishap, a man must be stationed beside the 

 horse. He must keep his hand on the bone, and by pressure, 

 when the horse moves, retain it in its proper place. At the same 

 time, the part i? to be bathed with some astringent. An infusion 

 of white-oak bark will answer ; or, failing to obtain this article, 

 apply alum-water, in the proportion of two ounces of alum to one 

 quart of water. 



Contraction of the Hoop. 



Contraction of the hoof is so easily recognized by persons accus- 

 tomed to handle horses, that very little needs to be written on that 

 subject. A contracted foot " speaks for itself," as the saying is. 

 The ueeb are approximated too closely, and this mars the beauty 



