POISONED WOUNDS. 143. 
sometimes the lower jaw breaks under the effort (See Fractures). Also. 
there are found the bites that dogs inflict upon each other during 
fighting, fractures of the bones which form the basis of the wounded re- 
gion (face, extremities). We have just treated a hunting dog bitten 
deeply on the shoulder by a bull-dog, in a short struggle, and in which 
the neck of the scapula had been fractured by a bite of the teeth. 
The therapeutical treatment that all these lesions require, allow them 
to be arranged in two groups: 1. Those where the contusion is more or 
less severe; 2. Those where the skin is perforated or torn. 
Bites of the first variety heal, ordinarily, without complications. ‘To 
allay the pain, often great, tepid affusions or baths are used; some- 
times emollients and narcotics. If the bruised structures undergo 
mortification, their sloughing can be stimulated and the wound treated 
as ordinary contused wounds are. 
Bites of the second variety—bites open or with wounds—must be 
carefully disinfected with free antiseptic irrigation or immersion ina 
tepid bath. The lesions, sometimes deep, that are inflicted with the 
teeth do not exhibit all the gravity of the injury; there is also the pos- 
sible infection with the saliva or other noxious substances which the 
teeth may have carried into the wound. Not only does saliva contain 
toxic leucomaines, but also numerous microbian species which can 
bring on an intense local phlegmasia, suppuration, and phlegmons of 
the wounded region. Tetanus, erysipelas, pyohemia, are complications. 
to be feared with serious bites. Minute disinfection of the wound and 
antiseptic dressings are the best preventive treatment of all such acci- 
dents. In some cases continued irrigation will be preferred. As in 
contused wounds, it may be necessary to make some excisions or to 
enlarge wounds with incisions or counter-openings. 
Generally wounds from bites bleed little. They may, however, be ac-. 
companied with abundant venous or arterial hemorrhage, which then 
necessitates the enlarging of the wound and the application of ligatures. 
Latulle treated a horse which, having been bitten (probably by his. 
mate) on the right side of the neck, near the jugular, had on that point 
a ragged wound from which red blood escaped. The jugular and the 
carotid had been opened so that ligature was required. (1) 
VII. 
POISONED WOUNDS—VIRULENT WOUNDS. 
Whatever may be the causes and the mode of their production, 
whether due to the action of a wounding body or a bite, these wounds. 
are essentially characterized by the deposit, in the injured tissues, of a 
deleterious substance—poison, venom or virus. What makes them 
(1) Latulle, Journ. of Milit. Vet. Med. 1867-68, p. 413. 
