344 DADD'S VETERINARY MEDICINE AND SURGERY. 
takes of this kind, all going to show how very apt people are te 
be deceived regarding the seat of lameness in horses. In short, 
judging from my own experience, and the testimony offered by 
other professional men, it may be confidently asserted that luxation 
of the patella is quite a rare accident. These remarks are intended 
for the instruction of the non-professional reader. Persons con- 
versant with the anatomy of the horse are not expected to make 
such a mistake as the one just alluded to; hence they do not stand 
in need of the author’s advice. 
Method of reducing dislocation of the patella—The means of re- 
duction are very simple. The patella will be found on the lower 
and outer condyle of the thigh bone. With one hand let the 
operator grasp the leg, just below the hock, and raise it from the 
ground in an upward and forward direction; the other hand em- 
braces the stifle bone, and by a simultaneous action of pressing the 
latter inward, and the bones that compose the joint backward, the 
reduction is soon effected. The bone, in returning to its natural 
situation, emits a sound such as usually follows that of a dislocated 
bone just at the moment when slipping into the socket. A recent 
dislocation, when reduced, needs no after-treatment, except tha 
occasional application of an astringent and a couple of days’ rest; 
but, should the bone have remained unreduced for many hours, we 
way infer that the muscles and ligaments have been stretched or 
distended too iong in one direction, and that, on reduction, the 
fibers of the muscles concerned may not immediately contract; 
hence the bone is apt to slip off its articulatory surface again. To 
guard against this mishap, a man must be stationed beside the 
horse. He must keep his hand on the bone, and by pressure, 
when the horse moves, retain it in its proper place. At the sama 
tame, the part i7 to be bathed with some astringent. An infusion 
of white-oak bark will answer; or, failing to obtain this article, 
apply alum-water, in the proportion of two ounces of alum to one 
qnart of water. 
CONTRACTION OF THE Hoor. 
Contraction of the hoof is so easily recognized by persons accus: 
tumed to handle horses, that very little needs to be written on that 
subject. A contracted foot “speaks for itself,” as the saying is. 
‘The ueels are approximated too closely, and this mars the Leanty 
