PRINCIPLES OF VETERINARY SURGERY 



657 



ing or passing over the diseased articulations are degene- 

 rated, pale, fibrous, and retracted. 



2. Ssniovial Membranes. — The synovial membrane, in- 

 stead of being as thin as a cigarette paper, is always consid- 

 erably thickened. It is fibrous, fibro-cartilaginous, hard, 

 virhitish, glittering and poorly supplied with vessels on its 

 inner face. 



3. Synovia. — The synovial liquid is neither purulent nor 

 turbid, but is thick, oily and sticky. 



4. The Articular Cartilage. — The lesions of the cartilage 

 are the most interesting. They are wrinkled and folded in 

 the direction of their long axes. It seems that their limited 



Fig. 114. 

 Macerated Head of a Hog Attacked with the Disease. 



development has not kept pace with length of the subjacent 

 bone. At certain points it is worn or even ulcerated into the 

 osseous tissue. When the lesions are not very old there is 

 no epiphyseal periostosis. 



DIAGNOSIS. — The disease may not be recognized for 

 some time after its first appearance. The occurrence of 

 arthritis in communities where the disease exists, and the 

 sniffling, will generally tend to promote a correct diagnosis, 

 and when the convexity of the face appears no confusion is 

 possible. 



PROGNOSIS. — The above description justifies a brief 

 consideration of the prognosis. The disease is, in fact, one of Jl— 



