110 WOUNDS AND BKUISES. 



ointment or salicylic acid ointment, or soaked in eucalyptus oil. 

 If nothing else is at hand, we may dust the i>art over with a thick 

 layer of wheaten flour or powdered starch, the good effect of which 

 will be much improved by the addition of a fourth part of finely 

 powdered boracic acid. The after treatment does not differ from 

 that of a wound. Iodoform should not be used over laro^e surfaces, 

 for in that case it might act as a poison. A saturated watery solu- 

 tion of i^icric acid applied by means of lint soaked in it and left 

 in jiosition for two or three days, if there is no rise of temperature 

 (Whitla's " Dictionary of Treatment "), acts well in mild burns 

 of small area, but, as Dr. Oarless (" The Year-Book of Treatment," 

 for 1899) has pointed out, its ai>pli cation has many drawbacks. 



If the jDain be great, give 1 oz. chloral hydrate in a pint of water, 

 as a drench, and keep up the strength by a quart of beer, or a 

 couple of glasses of spirits mixed with water, every now and then. 

 A severe burn or scald causes great shock to the system; hence 

 the necessity for supporting the vital power after these accidents. 



Wounds of the Abdomen 



in their severe forms, are generally caused by " staking," as when 

 a horse, in jumping " short," impales himself on a spiked railing or 

 on a sharp pointed stake ; and by thrusts with stable forks, horns of 

 cattle, weapons of various kinds, and other pointed objects, as in 

 carriage accidents, etc. Their gravity chiefly depends : (1) on the 

 introduction into the abdominal cavity (the sj^ace which exists be- 

 tween the sides of the abdomen, and the abdominal organs, such as 

 the bowels, stomach, liver, spleen, etc.) of contaminated matter 

 from the wounded bowel or from outside ; (2) on an irreducible pro- 

 trusion of a portion of the contents of the abdomen; and (3) on 

 injury to the internal organs. In considering the chances of re- 

 covery, we must remember that horses often survive very severe 

 penetrating wounds of the abdomen, with or without treatment. 

 Wounds of the abdomen may consist of simple injury to the skin 

 and superficial muscles ; or of an opening into the abdominal cavity, 

 with or without injury to the internal organs ; and with or without 

 protrusion of one or more of the internal organs through such open- 

 ing. In an accident of this kind, the great danger is the setting-up 

 of peritonitis (p. 114), namely, inflammation of the peritoneum (the 

 membrane which lines the abdomen and covers the bowels and other 

 organs) by the escape into it of a portion of the contents of the ali- 

 mentary canal, or of blood, or by the introduction into it of foreign 

 matter from without. Injuries which come under the first heading, 

 inay be treated as simple wounds, in which case, precautions should 

 be taken to prevent matter (pus) working down through the under- 



