418 BOVINE PATHOLOGY. 



however, motion between tlie surfaces occurs there is a 

 tendency to excessive irritation, which must be restrained. 

 Again, we must observe that, in some cases, stimulating 

 treatment will be required, either in consequence of general 

 or local debility. Thus, judgment must be exercised in 

 the treatment of every wound. A punctured wound run- 

 ning obliquely to the surface may, by a bold slit, be con- 

 verted into an incised wound much more formidable in 

 appearance, but which will heal in half the time. In a 

 contused wound blood will often require to be freed from 

 the tissue spaces into which it had escaped. Few matters 

 in surgery require more judgment than the treatment of 

 wounds. 



In the ox suppuration does not so readily occur as in 

 the horse, and the pus, when formed, is of a special odour, 

 and not of uniform consistence. Incised wounds are not 

 frequent in this animal, but punctures from the horns of 

 companions are both frequent and formidable. Lacerated 

 wounds, too, are often seen, but the thick skin of the ox 

 acts as a preventive against these. 



Of the results of wounds we may say that gangrene, 

 pyaemia, and tetanus are rare, and sympathetic fever 

 seldom runs high. Punctured wounds of the abdomen 

 may lead to rupture or to injury of the bowels, as already 

 described. A wound of the same nature extending into 

 the chest leads to the easily repaired laceration of the 

 lung and to pleuritis, with considerable embarrassment of 

 respiration, but seldom proves fatal. 



Chronic wounds, fistulas, and the various kinds of ulcer, 

 have been already described at length. 



Section 2. — Tumours. 



Swellings of a circumscribed character due to abnormal 

 accumulation of tissue materials are described under this 

 name. They may be situated on the surface of the body, 

 or more deeply, and are primarily divisible into malignant 

 and non-malignant. 



