PRINCIPLES OF VETERINARY SURGERY 289 



tissues are bruised. It does not vary in proportion to the 

 richness of the nerve supply, but according to the nature of 

 the trauma. Regions rich in nerve endings, other things be- 

 ing equal, are no more painful when wounded than those 

 poorly supplied with nerves. 



The haemorrhage varies with the vascularity of the 

 wounded region, the extent of the wound and the nature of 

 the body inflicting the injury. [Woturds inflicted with sharp 

 instruments bleed proportionately more than those which 

 are lacerated or contused. L. A. M.] In certain 'animals 

 haemorrhage may become alarming, even after insignificant 

 lesions. It is not rare, for example, for a donkey to bleed 

 abvindantly from small wounds. 



The general symptoms are not intense, as a rule, so long 

 as the wound remains free from mici-obiari invasion. The 

 general reaction, aside from microbian infection, is confined 

 to nervous disturbances which vary in intensity with the 

 temperament of the animal. Formerly^ it was supposed that 

 the fever was the result of shock and that every trauma was 

 accompanied with a more or less manifest febrile state. Fever 

 was even considered necessary and useful to the patient. 

 These ideas have not been entertained since the discovery 

 of wound micro-organisms and their secretions. The remote 

 symptoms are rare in domestic animals, but have neverthe- 

 less been noticed. A kick on the abdomen of a horse has 

 been found to cause polyuria, and nephritis has been known 

 to develop from violence to the dorso-lumbar region. Emboli 

 proceeding from traumatic foci, provoked by inflammation 

 of the vessels traversing the region, should also be included 

 among the remote symptoms. 



The local symptoms previously mentioned are, so to 

 speak, immediate symptoms. In time the traumatic focus 

 changes its physiognomy and the local secondary symptoms 

 begin to appear. These secondary signs are the work of 



