324 PRINCIPLES OF VETERINARY SURGERY 



erable potency in the production of general symptoms. This 

 theory is incontestable, as proofs are found of the symp- 

 toms and in the lesions, as well as in the particular toxicity 

 the urine acquires. 



COMPLICATIONS.— When burns are infected, lym- 

 phangitis, abscess, gaseous gangrene, pyaemia and tetanus 

 may result. Complications of oedema of the glottis, bronchi- 

 tis and pneumonia occur among animals that inhale smoke. 



PATHOLOGICAL ANATOMY.— The local lesions 

 have already been described. In the horse when death su- 

 pervenes the subcutaneous tissue is thickened, hard, infil- 

 trated with serum, the lungs congested, the pericardium 

 filled with reddish serum, the blood in the heart, reddish, 

 and the brain, injected. When complications of bronchitis 

 have occurred the bronchi, trachea and larynx are greatly 

 inflamed and contain false membranes. In the dog, the blood 

 is dark, thick, coagulated and scantily supplied with water. 

 The red blood corpuscles are deeply altered and the gases 

 diminished — a diminution which affects the conveyance of 

 both oxygen and carbonic acid, but especially the latter. 



PROGNOSIS. — The prognosis varies with the extent 

 and depth of the wounds, with the importance of the or- 

 gans attacked and the nature of the cauterant. It is graver 

 in young than adult animals in consequence of the great 

 anaemia resulting from the vitiation of the blood. Burns of 

 the sole may prove fatal, and those which afifect the walls 

 of the great splanchnic cavities may become complicated 

 with pleurisy or peritonitis. 



TREATMENT. — For a long time burns have been 

 treated without taking new data into account. Most sur- 

 geons used substances that had only a nominal microbicide 

 value, but today nearly all have adopted antiseptic treat- 

 ment. Burns, in fact, should not be treated differently from 

 other wounds, and as wounds of domestic animals are never 



