450 



dered gentian, and powdered ginger, of each. 4 ounces. Mix thoroughly 

 and give a heaping tablespoonful twice a day on the feed, or as a 

 drench. 



Punctured icounds are produced by the penetration of a sharp or blunt 

 pointed substance, as a tlioru, fork, nail, etc., and the orifice of these 

 wounds is always small in proportion to their depth. In veterinary 

 practice punctured wounds are much more common than the others. 

 They involve the feet most frequeutl3', next the legs, and often the 

 head and face from nails protruding through the stalls and trough. 

 They are not only the most frequent but they are also the most serious. 

 One circumstance rendering them so is the lack of attention that they 

 at first receive. The external wound is so small that but little or no 

 importance is attached to it, yet in a short time swelling, pain, and acute 

 inflammation often of a serious character, are manifested. Considering 

 the most common of the punctured wounds we must give precedence to 

 those of the feet. Horses "worked in cities, about iron works, around 

 building places, etc., are most likely to receive " nails in the feet." The 

 animal treads upon nails, pieces of iron or screws, and forces them into 

 the soles of the feet. If the nail, or whatever it is that has punctured 

 the foot, is fast in some large or heavy body, and is withdrawn as the 

 horse lifts his foot, lameness may last for only a few steps ; but unless 

 properly attended to at once he will be found in a day or two to be ex- 

 cruciatingly liime in tlie injured member. If the foreign body remains 

 in the foot he gradually grows worse from the time of puncture until 

 the cause is discovered and removed. If, when shoeing, a nail is driven 

 into the "quick" (sensitive laminae) and allowed to remain, the horse 

 gradually evinces more pain from day to day ; but if the nail has at once 

 been removed by the smith lameness does not. as a rule, show itself for 

 some days; or, if the nail is simply driven " too close," not actually 

 pricking the horse, he may not show any lameness for a vreek or even 

 much louger. At this point it is due the blacksmith to say that, con- 

 sidering how thin the walls of some feet are, the uneasiness of many 

 horses while shooing, the ease with which a nail is diverted from its 

 course by striking an old piece of nail left in the wall, or from the nail 

 itself splitting, the wonder is not that so many horses are pricked or 

 7iaUs driven '■'too close, ^^ but rather that many more are not so injured. 

 It is not always carelessness or ignorance on the part of the smith, by 

 any means, that is to account for this accident. Bad and careless 

 shoers we do meet with, but let us be honest and say that the raritij of 

 these accidents points rather to the general care and attention given by 

 these much-abused mechanics. 



From the construction of the horse's foot (being encased in an im- 

 permeable horny box), and from the elasticity of the horn closing the 

 orifice, punctured wounds of the feet are almost always productive of 

 lameness. Inflammation results, and as there is no relief afforded by 

 swelling and no escape for the product of luHammation, this matter 



