341 



Onr experience with injuries of this form satisfies us that, generally 

 speaking, they are amenable to treatment. Very few instances have 

 come to our knowledge in which radical recovery has not been obtained, 

 provided a sufficient time has been allowed for cicatrization to take 

 place. 



In these cases, as in those already considered of simple laceration of 

 tendons, the indications resemble those which apply in the treatment of 

 fractures; as near a coaptation of the lacerated ends as possible, with 

 immobility, being the necessary objects to secure. The first is a matter 

 of very difficult accomplishment, by bandaging alone, and some have 

 recommended instead the application of charges or blisters. To these 

 we strongly object from their liability to cause irritation and to allow of 

 excessive movement, both circumstances being unfiivorable in their 

 influence and hindering the action of the reparative powers. 



To secure the necessary immobility the animal should be placed in 

 slings snugly applied, and kept in a narrow stall. He should also be 

 tied short, and restrained from any backward movement by ropes or 

 boards, and he should moreover be kept in as quiet a temper as pos- 

 sible by the exclusion of all causes of irritation or excitement. Weeks 

 must then ekapse, not less, but frequently more thau six, often eight, be. 

 fore he can be considered out of danger and able to return to his labor, 

 which should for a time bo light and easy, and only gradually, if ever, 

 increased to the measure of a thoroughly sound and strong animal. 



SUNDRY ADDITIONAL AFFECTIONS OF THE EXTREMITIES. 



Among these there are three which will principally occupy our atten- 

 tion, and these may be considered as forming a single group. In some 

 l)arts of the legs may be found certain peculiar little structures, of a sac- 

 like formation, containing an oily substance designed for the lubrica- 

 tion of the parts upon which they are placed for the purpose of facilita- 

 ting the movements of the tendons which pass over them. These little 

 sacs or muco synovial capsules are liable under peculiar coiiditions of 

 traumatism to become subject to a diseased process, which consists 

 principally in a hyper-secretion of their contents and an increase in 

 dimensions, and they may undergo peculiar pathological changes of a 

 character to disable an animal, and in many instances to cause serious 

 blemishes which can not but depreciate his value. These growths, 

 which are known as hygromata, may result from external violence, as 

 blows or bruises, and may appear in the form of small, soft tumors, 

 painless and not inflammatory in character, but, by a repetition of the 

 cause or renewal of violence, likely to acquire a new severity. Severe 

 inflammation may supervene, with suppuration, which filling up the 

 cavity, the walls will become thickened and hard, and the formation of 

 a tumor follow, which, resisting all forms of treatment, can only be made 

 to disappear by subjecting them to the edge of the bistoury. 



