WOUNDS. 289 
For the dressings tepid antiseptic solutions and iodoform are preferable 
to the tincture of arnica or aloes used in past times. Recovery is always 
slow ; generally the lameness does not subside for three or four months. 
The tendinous suture has been tried by Furlanetto in a seven-year-old 
small cow, in which the skin and tendo Achillis had been cut five cen- 
timeters above the os calcis. The animal was operated upon standing. 
The leg being held in extension, the tendinous ends were held together 
with two thick silk threads and the cutaneous wound closed with an in- 
terrupted suture. The leg was enveloped in oakum, an iron splint was 
placed on the anterior face of the leg and wooden splints on the two 
sides; the whole was kept in place by an immovable dressing. The 
animal having been left free, showed no serious symptoms. A strict anti- 
sepsis had not been used, on the eighth day there was escaping from the 
wound a fetid, yellowish fluid; two days later necrosis of the tendinous 
ends was observed. The animal was destroyed. 
If. Tendons of the Extensors of the Phalanges. 
The tendons of the anterior and lateral extensors of the phalanges may 
be the seat of complete transverse solutions of continuity. The digital 
region is no longer extended on the canon and the anterior face of the 
fetlock participates in the support of the leg, as in cases of paralysis of the 
external sciatic popliteus. 
When at rest, the fetlock having but little tendency to. flex forward, 
the dieresis of the extensor tendons is less serious than that of the flexors. 
By immobilization and simple care of the wound the union of the tendin- 
ous ends takes place rapidly and the normal functions of the leg soon 
return. Inonecase of a wound of the anterior face of the right posterior 
canon, with rupture of the tendon of the anterior extensor of the phalanges, 
Chaintre first used white lotion; a piece of bone sloughed out, the wound 
was then dressed with alcohol and tincture of aloes. Protruding granula- 
tions and a fistulous tract retarded the cicatrization, which took seven 
weeks. As the tendinous stumps had not been kept closed together a 
fibrinous band five centimeters long took place between them; extension 
remained imperfect for a long time, but the leg ultimately recovered all 
its normal functions. 
An antiseptic treatment would be followed by a more rapid recovery 
and would prevent infectious complications. 
ITT, Tendons of the Flexors of the Phalanges. 
Partial cuts and contused wounds of the flexor tendons ordinarily are 
repaired without complications when treated antiseptically. Exceptionally, 
the wounded tissues, especially the paratendinous connective tissue, be 
19 
