Special Injuries of Bones, Joints and Muscles. 42 7 



case; 4th, the exposure of the tendons, with escape of 

 glairy synovia, will entail more swelling and fever and per- 

 manent enlargement of the joint, but wiU demand the 

 same course of treatment; 5th, when the tendons are 

 crushed or torn and the joint opened, and above all when 

 the bones- are broken we have cases of increasing severity 

 and in few such is it desirable to subject to treatment, un- 

 less the patient is to be valuable for breeding purposes. 

 Considerable death of tendon and even necrosis and elimi- 

 nation of bone may be expected and the patient can only 

 recover with a stiff joiat. In addition to the measures 

 already recommended, it becomes imperative to encase 

 the limb up to the elbow in splints and bandages, as for a 

 fracture, leaving open the part in front of the knee for 

 dressing the wound. 



SPLINTS. 



These are circumscribed inflammations of the perios- 

 teum and small bones ia the region of the shank, involving 

 or not the shank-bones themselves, and resulting in small 

 bony swellings. They occur almost invariably on the ianei 



Fig. 67. 



Fig. 67— Splint 



side of the limb, between the large and small bones of the 

 shank, and may usually be recognized by running the 

 fingers down the sHght groove formed between the main 

 chank-bone and its small accessory one behind. It usually 

 connects the large bone to the small (anchylosis), but may 

 be confined to the posterior part of the small bone, or may 

 extend across the back of the shank-bone and appear at 

 the same level on the inner and outer sides of the limb 



