357 



estimated in i)ounds; it is not an eyesore merely, but an uncomfort- 

 able, burdensome mass, excoriating all the surrounding parts and 

 being itself excoriated in turn; mild treatment has failed and is no 

 longer to be relied on. There is no longer an alternative between the 

 abandonment of the patient and the amputation of the tumor. But 

 there is a choice of modes and instrumentalities, a question of pref- 

 erence between the ligature, the electric cautery, and the bistoury. 

 Each has its advocates among practitioners. In a case like the pres- 

 ent, one of the practical embarrassments aiises in connection with 

 the application and retention of bandages ajid other dressings after 

 the amputation has been f)erformed. It is a somewhat difficult prob- 

 lem, owing to the conformation and proi)ortions of the body of the 

 patient, and involves the exercise of a considerable amount of prac- 

 tical ingenuity to adjust and retain the appliances necessary to insure 

 a good final result in obtaining a proper cicatrix. 



In our long description of the treatment of the varieties of capi)ed 

 elbow we have thus far omitted any mention of one method which 

 has to some extent received the sanction of experience, and which is 

 practiced and commended by not a few. We refer to the use of 

 setons, introduced through and through the tumor. We mention it 

 to say that our experience is adverse to this mode. We are led to this 

 opinion not only by our observation of many failures, but from 

 the fact that in many cases the use of the seton has been followed 

 by the formation of large fibrous tumors, which in our opinion have 

 resulted from it. 



Capped knee. — The passage of the tendons of the extensor muscle of 

 the cannon, as it glides in front of the knee joint, is assisted by one 

 of the little bursse we have before mentioned, and when this becomes 

 the seat of a dropsical collection a hygroma is formed and the knee is 

 "capped." Though somewhat analogous in its history to the capped 

 elbow, there are points of diiference between them. Their develop- 

 ment may j)rove a source of great annoyance from the fact of the 

 blemish which they constitute. 



The capped knee presents itself under various conditions. It is 

 sometimes the result of a cause nearly unique, as when it follows a 

 bruise or contusion, often repeated, inflicted upon himself by a horse 

 addicted to the habit of pawing while in the stable and striking the 

 front of the stall with his knees. Another class of patients is formed 

 of those weak-kneed animals which are subject to falling and bruising 

 the front of the joint against the ground, the results not being always 

 of the same character. 



The lesion may be a simple bruise, or it may be a severe contusion 

 with swelling, oedematous, hot, painful, and interfering with locomo- 

 tion, the joint becoming stiff and sometimes so rigid that the animal 

 is unable to flex it, and still, under simple treatment, the trouble may 

 subside almost by spontaneous action. 



