PRINCIPLES OF VETERINARY SURGERY 297 



more perfect coaptation of the edges. The sutures draw to- 

 gether the separated elements, which have only been be- 

 numbed, and play the part that fibrin does in wounds where 

 the separation is insignificant. If the wound is deep and 

 different kinds of tissues are divided, the sutures must be 

 made to join similar tissue as muscle to muscle, etc. When 

 the wound is closed it should be coated with iodoform collo- 

 dion and covered with an aseptic dressing. Cicatrization 

 will then take place very rapidly. If the wound is deep, an- 

 fractuous and soiled, abandon the idea of suture, even after 

 disinfection. Leave it exposed to the air; irrigate it co- 

 piously, so as to cleanse even the underlying parts, and then 

 sprinkle with an absorbent antiseptic substance. It is not 

 necessary in any case to cover over these deep wounds. In 

 sheltering them from the air, the swarming of certain micro- 

 organisms, notably the septic vibrio, is facilitated and the 

 outward flow of microbian secretions is prevented. To use 

 an old term "We have shut up the wolf in the sheepfold." 

 The bacterial poisons absorb, kindle fever, impair the cellu- 

 lar elements and thus form an obstacle to reparation. 



WOUNDS BY PENETRATING INSTRUMENTS. 



(Punctured Wounds) 

 Wounds by penetrating instruments — punctured wounds 



— may be described as solutions of continuity made by fine 

 instruments — pointed and regular, such as a needle, a trocar, 

 a bayonet, a nail, a pitchfork, the goad or the trident of an 

 ox-driver; or by irregular objects, such as thorns, fragments 

 of wood, and pieces of glass. In the former the penetrating 

 body does not generally remain in the wound, while in the 

 latter the irregularity of its surface is an obstacle to its 

 exit. It may remain hidden in its entirety in the tissues, or 

 may be broken to pieces in the interior of the wound. 



SYMPTOMS. — The pain varies with the volume and 



