HYGROMAS—BURSITIS. 233 
canon ; this will prevent the flexion of the anterior affected leg. Placing 
sharp points or using pads with sharp nails is a dangerous thing to do. 
A good shoeing and simple soft pads are generally sufficient. A muzzle 
is sometimes used to prevent the animal biting its elbow. 
Local therapeutic means can be advantageous only when the region is 
relieved of the bruising action of the shoe or of the heel of the foot. 
The capped elbow when recent is soft and cedematous. Douches, slight 
massage, astringent applications (white lotion, vinegar and chalk) and ex- 
ercise are sufficient to obtain the absorption of the exudation from the 
subcutaneous connective tissue. If the result is incomplete Lebas charges 
or blisters can be used. 
The cystic capped elbow, the true hygroma: of the elbow, ordinarily does 
not yield to these means of treatment. Repeated blistering applications 
have been prescribed for it, especially the bi-iodide of mercury. The 
preparation of Weber spoken of above applied daily will, after three or 
four weeks, remove some voluminous hygromas of the elbow. Mr. 
Weber says that this treatment “has never failed with him.” Several 
veterinarians have also obtained excellent results from its use. Puncture 
is efficacious only when it is completed by the destruction of the cystic 
membrane. ‘The puncture should be made with the red-hot iron, the in- 
ternal face of the wall should be scorched with it or touched with a 
caustic substance (tincture of iodine, solutions of potash, chloride of zinc). 
Sometimes after the opening a blister or a few points of firing are put on 
the surface of the tumor. Some practitioners still use the vertical seton. 
When the capped elbow is the seat of an active inflammation this can be 
relieved by cold applications, emollients or camphorated ointment. Vesi- 
cating agents to promote suppuration are also used. When the abscess is 
formed a free opening is made, followed by frequent injections. 
A more energetic treatment is necessary with indurated capped elbow. 
Blisters and mercurial frictions have little effect: the Weber preparation 
finds obstinate cases and cauterization does not always succeed. After 
trying all these, if the tumor is quite circumscribed it must be ex- 
tirpated. The ecraseur crushes the tissues and leaves a bruised zone 
which sloughs off by suppuration and retards cicatrization. Elastic 
ligature is always to be preferred when the tumor is somewhat peduncula- 
ted. When itis wide and the application of the ligature somewhat 
difficult, Méller recommends the use first of a very fine india-rubber 
thread, which will not slip so easily. After a few days, when the tumor 
has swollen by hyperemia and exudation, this thread should be replaced 
by another coarser. The elastic ligature can, however, be kept in posi- 
_tion with the aid of a metallic pin pushed through the mass (a kind of 
pin suturey, The section of the neoplasm will take from five to ten 
