332 COMPENDIUM OF THE VETERINARY ART. 



of a different nature from flesh or skin, and, 

 when wounded, cannot be healed without the 

 assistance of strong' stimulants and even cau- 

 sties*; but these must be used with G:reat 

 caution, for when they are so clumsily em- 

 ployed as to enter the cavity of the joint the^ 

 most violent iuliammation vvill ensue. Some 

 of the old farriers appear to have known the 

 utility of caustics in these wounds ; but mis- 

 taking the principle on which they acted, 

 ofteu injected liquid caustics into the joint, 

 and thereby brought on the most excruciating 

 torments. Sometimes their patients were 

 destroyed by the fever which followed : more 

 frequently, however, the joint became stiff or 

 immovable, as we have before described, and 



* It has been supposed, that the violent pahi and inflam- 

 mation, which follow the wound of a joint, are caused chiefly b^ 

 the admission of air into the cavity, and a deficiency of synovia 

 or joint oil, by wh'ch the two surfaces are exposed to friction. 

 It is certain, however, that in these woraids there is much more 

 synovia formed than usual; wliich may be known by the quantity 

 tliat flows from the wound. Tliis increased formation of svnoviii, 

 however, continues only a certain time; after a time the coa- 

 gulating lymph is poured out, which, becoming solid, obliterates 

 the cavity ; but in large wounds of the principal joints, the animal 

 is often destroyed before this happens, by the symptomatic fever 

 which comes on. 



