DISEASES OF JOINTS. 335 



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

 their discovery and diagnosis. 



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 jjrompt use of collodion dressings to check the flow and pre- 

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

 and heavily suppurative, little can be done more than to put in prac- 

 tice the " expectant " method with warm fomentations, repeatedly 

 applied, and soothing mucilaginous 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 will 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. "V^^ien 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 contrar}^, 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 

 single opening, but by a number of fistulous tracts which have succes- 

 sively formed; if it seems evident that this drainage is rapidly and 

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

 vitoi 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 the next step. The poor beast is 

 under sentence of death, and eve.y consideration of interest and of 

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

 quick and easy execution of the sentence. 



One of the essentials of treatment, and probably an indispensable 

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

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

 he can be made to submit quietly to their restraint. 



