490 PRINCIPLES OF VETERINARY SURGERY 



or amputated according to its position and condition. In the after care only 

 nominal effort will be made to prevent subsequent infection with pus germs. 

 The free admission of air is preferable to the applicatiori' of an impervious 

 covering which will again shelter the anaerobic microorganisms it may still 

 contain. Packing with loose gauze soaked with potent antiseptic solutions is 

 ample treatment for the wound thus renewed. The aim here is to prevent 

 further absorption of tetanic toxin. 



2d. At the completion of the foregoing step 20 c.c. of antitetanic serum 

 are injected into the jugular vein. These doses are repeated every second or 

 third day during the first twelve days. The aim is the neutralization of the 

 free toxin in the organism that has not been appropriated by the cells of the 

 nerve centers, and which are still capable of yielding to the antitoxic action. 



3d. .The subject is placed in as quiet a place as possible, where the 

 light is neither too vivid nor entirely absent, and then put into a sling that 

 is carefully adjusted to the body. As the tetanus patient does not survive 

 the recumbent position and can only be returned to the standing position 

 with the greatest difficulty, slinging is always a wise precaution if not an ab- 

 solute necessity in the treatment of sub-acute tetanus. 



4th. The character of the food will depend upon the intensity of the 

 trismus. Hay, oats, corn, mashes or any of usual feeds are admissible if the 

 patient is capable of masticating them ; that is, if the trismus admits of mas- 

 tication. When the motion of he jaw is more limited liquid diets consisting 

 of oatmeal gruel, linseed tea, hay tea, bran gruel, cornmeal gruel, etc., are the 

 only nourishments the patient is capable of ingesting. In these liquids lib- 

 eral amounts of alcohol may be added to augment their nutritive value. 

 Feed stuffs administered per rectum will prove a disappointment. By re- 

 stricting the diet and by always giving it fresh and clean, various useful 

 medicaments can be administered with it. In this manner twcuto three 

 grams of calomel can be administered per day to prevent constipation and 

 colics. 



5th. Potassium bromide, chloral hydrate and carbolic acid seem to give 

 the best results. These are named here in the order of their practical ap- 

 plicability if not in that of their therapeutic value. Potassium bromide is 

 tasteless and soluble in the liquid food and can therefore be administered 

 in any reasonable quantity without exciting the patient. Chloral hydrate 

 cannot be administered per os on account of its irritating properties. If 

 diluted sufficiently the quantity precludes easy administration. Per recttam, 

 if continued during several days, even highly diluted it causes irritation of 

 the rectum that is often serious. Carbolic acid administered subcutaneously 

 is objectionable because the operations excite the patient and thus provoke 

 harmful paroxysms. Too much importance must not be placed upon the 

 mternal medication. At best it does but little permanent good. — L. A. M. 



ACTINOMYCOSIS. 



DEFINITION. — Actinomycosis is a parasitic disease 

 caused by the vegetation, in the tissues, of a specific parasite 

 belonging- to the genus Actinomyces, and described under 

 the name of Actinomyces Bovis. 



