DISEASES OF JOINTS. 335 



realize the necessity and the vahie of early and prompt attention upon 

 their discovery and dia<riiosis. 



Treatment. — For simple bruises, like those which appear in the 

 form of broken knees or of carpitis, simple remedies, such as warm 

 fomentations or cold water applications and compresses of astringent 

 mixtures, suggest themselves at once. Injuries of a more complicated 

 character, as lacerations of the skin or tearing of soft structures, will 

 also be benefited by simple dressings with antiseptic mixtures, as 

 those of the carbolic acid order. The escape of synovia should sug- 

 gest the promi)t use of collodion dressings to check the floAV and pre- 

 vent the further escape of the fluid. But if the discharge is abundant 

 and heavily supi)urative, little can be done more than to put in prac- 

 tice the " expectant " method Avith warm fomentations, repeatedly 

 applied, and soothing unicilaginous poultices. Improvement, if any 

 is possible, will be but slow to manifest itself. The most difficult of 

 all things to do, in view of varying interests and opinions — that is, 

 in a practical sense — is to abstain from " doing " entirely, and yet we 

 are firmly convinced that noninterference in the cases we are con- 

 sidering is the best and wisest policy. 



In cases which are carried to a successful result the discharge will 

 by degrees diminish, the extreme pain wall gradually subside, and the 

 convalescent will begin timidly to rest his foot upon the ground, and 

 presently to bear weight upon it, and perhaps, after a long and tedi- 

 ous process of recuperation, he may be returned to his former and 

 normal condition of usefulness. When the discharge has wholly 

 ceased and the wounds are entirely healed, a blister covering the 

 whole of the joint for the purpose of stimulating the absorption of 

 the exudation will be of great service. But if, on the contrary, there 

 is no amelioration of symptoms and the progress of the disease resists 

 every attempt to check it ; if the discharge continues to flow, not only 

 without abatement, but in an increased volume, and not alone by a 

 ^•ingle opening, but by a number of fistulous tracts which have succes- 

 sively formed; if it seems evident that this di-ainage is rapidly and 

 painfully sapping the suffering animal's vitality, and a deficient e'lx 

 eiUv fails to cooperate with the means of cure — all rational hope of 

 recovery may be finally abandoned. Any further waiting for 

 chances, or time lost in experimenting, will be mere cruelty and there 

 need be no hesitation concerning tlic next step. The poor beast is 

 nndci- sentence of death, and every consideration of interest and of 

 humanity demands an anticipation of nature's evident intent in the 

 (luick and easy execution of the sentence. 



One of the essentials of treatment, and prol)ably an indispensable 

 condition when recovery is in any wise attainable, is the suspension 

 of the jxitient in slings. He should be continued in them as long as 

 he can be made to submit quietly to their restraint. 



