260 SPRAIN OF THE BACK-SINEWS. 



spirit of wine has been ' added — ^the skin will be slightly stiinu ■ 

 lated and contracted, and the cold produced by the constant evap 

 oration will tend to subdue the remaining and deep-seated inflam 

 mation. This bandage should be daily tightened in proportion as 

 the parts are capable of bearing increased pressure, and the treat 

 ment should be persisted in for a fortnight. If, at the expiration 

 of that period, there is no swelling, tenderness, or heat, the horse 

 may gradually, and very, cautiously, be put to his usual work. 



Should there, however, remain the slightest lameness or con- 

 siderable enlargement, the leg must be blistered, and, indeed, it 

 would seldom be bad practice to blister after every case of severe 

 sprain, for the inflammation may lie deep in the sheath of the 

 tendons, and the part once sprained may long remain weak, and 

 subject to renewed injury, not only from unusual, but even ordi- 

 nary exertion. If a blister is resorted to, time should be given 

 for it to produce its gradual and full effect, and the horse should 

 be afterwards turned out for one or two months. We must here 

 be permitted to repeat, that a blister should liever be used while 

 any heat or tenderness remains about the part, otherwise the 

 slightest injury may be, and often is, converted into incurable 

 lameness. 



Very severe sprains, or much oftener, sprains badly treated, 

 may require the application of the cautery. If from long-con- 

 tinued inflammation the structure of the part is materially 

 altered — ^if the swelling is becoming callous, or the skin is thick 

 ened and prevents the free motion of the limb, no stimulus short 

 of the heated iron will be sufficient to rouse the absorbents to 

 remove the injurious deposit. The firing should be applied in 

 straight lines, because the skin, contracting by the application 

 of the cautery, and gradually regaining its elastic nature, will 

 thus form the best bandage over the weakened part. It should 

 likewise 'he as deep as it can be applied without penetrating the 

 skin. Here, even more particularly than in the blister, time 

 should be given for the full action of the firing. Many weeks 

 pass away before it is perfectly accomplished ; and, after firing, 

 the horse should have at least a six months', and it would be 

 better if he could be given a twelve months' run at grass.* 



* N^ote by Mr. Spooner. — In the original description of the anatomy of 

 these parts in the text there are one or two omissions ■which it is necessary 

 to supply. The office of these tendons is two-fold, viz., to flex the limb and 

 also to sustain a great portion of the animal's weight. They therefore acl 

 both as sinews and as ligaments. In the latter office thrf^ are greatly as- 

 sisted by a strong ligamentous substance which is attached to the common 

 bone above, and to the perforans tendon below, for which, indeed^ it forms 

 a sheath. In those strains of the tendons where the enlargement takes 

 place, just under the knee, this ligament is the seat of mischief; and the 

 eifect is, if not early subdued, to cause a contraction of the sm<?ws, and con 



