WOUNDS 249 



acute and the animal so violent with it that slaughter 

 becomes necessary. 



Treatment. — This consists in applying an antiseptic and 

 sedative dressing to the injured parts (for example, Carbolized 

 Oil and Tincture of Opium, equal parts) and afterwards 

 bandaging. 



From the only data we are able to work on, it appears that 

 this dressing should be repeated daily, the bandage being 

 removed each time, the foot well bathed in warm water, and 

 the dressing and bandage afterwards replaced. On first 

 sight, it would appear that once cleansed and bandaged the 

 dressings might be left in situ for several days. Seeing, 

 however, that suppuration, if once set up, would add further 

 to the intense jiain the animal is already suffering, and 

 considering the always constant exposure of the foot to 

 infection, it is perhaps wise to persist in daily changing of 

 the dressings. 



At the same time, the general health of the animal should 

 be attended to. Suitable febrifuges should be administered, 

 either in the shape of a dose of physic, or salines and liq. 

 ammonia, acetatis ; and the pain, if appearing unbearable, 

 allayed by doses of choral and hypodermic injections of 

 morphia. 



Recorded Cases. — 1. ' A short time ago I was called to see 

 a horse which had had his hoof torn oft' in a railway " point." 

 When I arrived at the stable the injury had been done two 

 hours, and the horse had been led from the railway to a 

 loose-box nearly half-a-mile off. On going to this box I was 

 surprised and horrified to find the poor animal mad with 

 pain, rolling and dashing himself about. When on his back 

 he would struggle and kick the walls with the injured foot, 

 as though unconscious of pain. Not one moment was he 

 still, and as I could see that the sensitive structures were 

 much damaged by his violence, I obtained a gun and put 

 him out of his pain. 



' The accident happened in this way. The horse was 

 employed in shunting coal- waggons, and had just drawn 

 four loaded trucks up to a point at which they diverged to 



