THE OX AND THE DA1KY. 



ounce, may be given in warm gruel twice a day. To this 

 mixture opium (from half a drachm to one drachm) may be 

 occasionally added. The affected joints must be fomented 

 with hot water or decoction of poppy-heads ; and the follow- 

 ing embrocation may be used : Camphorated oil, four ounces; 

 oil of turpentine, two ounces ; laudanum, one ounce. 



The animal must be comfortably housed, and supplied with 

 gruel. If the swelling of the joints, indicating the excess of 

 synovial fluid, continues after the acute inflammation is sub- 

 dued, they should be well rubbed, once or twice a day, with 

 an ointment of iodide of potass (one part of the latter, by 

 weight, to seven of lard). This ointment will be found 

 effective in dispersing tumours, enlargements of the glands, 

 and indurations of the udder. Besides being applied exter- 

 nally, three or four grains of iodide of potass (the dose being 

 increased to six or eight grains by degrees) may be given in a 

 small mash, morning and evening. 



With respect to the treatment of chronic rheumatism, few 

 explicit directions can be given, excepting that such cattle 

 ought never to be exposed to cold winds or driving sleets. 

 If turned out during the middle of the day, in winter, they 

 should be comfortably housed in the evening. 



Tumours of the knees often occur in cattle out at pasture 

 in damp grounds. The swelling occupies the fore part of the 

 knee, and its elasticity indicates the presence of fluid in the 

 tissue immediately beneath the skin. At first there is but 

 little pain : in course of time, however, the tumours increase 

 inflammation begins ; it extends to the joint, which is pain- 

 ful, and soon becomes deprived of the power of motion. 

 These tumours contain a glairy fluid ; on being punctured 

 the fluid escapes and the swelling subsides. Stimulating 

 liniments, blisters, and the hot iron, have been used with 

 variable success. 



Sometimes hard tumours make their appearance : it is 

 generally to one knee only that this sort of tumour is con- 

 fined; it does not yield to pressure, is painful, and the animal 

 is lame. Occasionally deep firing has succeeded in removing 

 it, when blisters, and even a seton through it, have had no 

 beneficial effect. In both the kinds of tumours above noticed, 

 which are often connected with neglected rheumatism, 

 though in some cases, perhaps, they are independent of this 

 affection, the iodide of potass, both as an external application, 

 and as an internal medicine, has been found very efficacious. 



