GANGRENE, III 
IIl. 
GANGRENE. 
Bacteriological discoveries have caused gangrene to be divided into 
the aseptic on the one hand and the sef¢ic or infectious on the other. 
We shall study the latter with the complications of the various trauma- 
tisms. For the present we shall only consider microbian mortifications 
and circumscribed sphacelus, in the genesis of which bacteria have played 
a more or less active part. 
On account of the multiplicity of the causes and of the complex 
pathogeny of those gangrenes it can easily be understood that preventive 
measures vary greatly according to circumstances. Let us observe, 
however, that the gangrenes of nervous origin (brought on by neuritis or 
by lesions of the centres), those of a cheromatous and diabetic, as well as 
those following ¢hrombosis and embolism, are very rare in animals. 
We shall first set forth the treatment of gangrenes, considered from 
a general point of view ; afterwards we shall examine the therapeutics of 
the two principal forms of sphacel of the soft tissues. 
The prophylaxis of gangrene includes means deducted from the 
numerous etiological conditions likely to produce it. When once the 
influence of these conditions is attenuated or annihilated, one must, by 
appropriate treatment, stop the processes which may bring on mortifica- 
tion of the tissues. Among working animals, cutaneous gangrene of 
the regions injured by the harness can be prevented, by seeing that 
they are in good condition, and are supple and exactly adapted to the parts 
with which they are to come in contact. In the case of disabled animals, 
which, on account of pain, are obliged to keep a reclining position fora 
number of days, the same object will be reached by providing them with 
a thick bed, free from injurious foreign substances, or by obliging them 
to rest first upon one side of the body, then on the other (by turning 
them over). One should bear in mind that blisters and caustics, applied 
in excess, have at times a violent action, which, extending beyond the 
desired effect, bring on the mortification of the tegument and of the 
first sub-cutaneous layers; and also that the cautery, which we use so 
frequently, easily produces similar results, if it is applied in violation 
of the established rules, is put on too hot, or left too long in contact 
with the skin. Incases where the extremities have been injured, where 
the permanent application of a bandage or of a more or less compres- 
sive apparatus is required, sphacel by arrest of the circulation may 
be avoided either by using only methodical and moderate pressure 
upon the injured region, or by spreading the apparatus over the entire 
extremity below the seat of the wound, beginning the application of the 
