WOUNDS, 525. 
flammation is not slow in spreading through the joint; this swells, be-~ 
comes very painful, the synovia which escapes is cloudy. Oftener, if 
the trauma is not attended to properly, after a lapse of time varying : 
between two and six days, the practitioner has a traumatic arthritis to. 
treat. 
That which must be prevented, is the inflammation of the synovial. 
We will see how this prophylaxy demands early aseptization of the: 
wound, followed with immobilization of the joint as complete as it can be 
obtained. 
The severity of traumatic lesions of articulations is, in general, in pro- . 
portion to the functional importance of those organs. However, the: 
dimensions of the wound, its location on the anterior, posterior or 
lateral face of the joint, the extent of the peri- and intra-articular lesions, . 
have much influence upon this severity. 
The researches of Rigot and of Goubaux have shown that articular, 
like tendinous, synovial sheaths are at times divided by partitions in’ 
several lodges, a fact which explains the localization of the infectious . 
process to one part of the synovial, and the rapid recovery of some. 
articular wounds and some recent arthritis. 
It has been said that articular lesions of the hind legs were ordinarily 
more serious than those of the anterior; but the real differences ob-- 
served on this point are more due to the anatomical complexity as well 
as to the more or less active function of the joints. A deep wound 
which involves a thick layer of peri-articular tissues is ordinarily more - 
serious than the simple wound of a cul-de-sac. A wounding body which 
opens a joint, making in the tissues that cover it a wound oblique 
downwards and inwards, gives rise toa more compromising injury, more 
exposed to intra-articular complications, than if it runs through the- 
tissues in an inverse direction. We cannot insist too much on this 
point: what creates the danger, is the infection ; those are all the con- 
ditions likely to produce it or favor it. 
In the presence of an articulation which has just been opened, is it. 
proper, by probing, to explore the wound to precise the diagnosis or 
recognize the exact condition of the alterations? To-day, in human 
surgery, says Ch. Nélaton, “ the exploration with an aseptic probe, or, 
better, with the finger, after enlarging the wound, is absolutely indi- 
cated.” For our patients, on account of the circumstances in which we - 
are to realize asepsy, this practice would be dangerous. Although the. 
synovial flow is not characteristic of the opening of the articulation—as . 
it may result from a wound of the tendinous sheath—probing must be 
excluded. Nothing is more dangerous than to enter joints with dirty or-- 
suspicious probes, and explorations with an aseptic instrument which. 
