388 The Management ana Diseases of the Dog. 
around it should be cut off,so that it may not become 
matted and form an obstruction to the discharge of pus; 
this will also facilitate the daily examination and treatment 
of the wound. If the puncture be in the foot, and there is 
reason to suppose a thorn or rusty nail has produced it, a 
poultice is advisable, and the insertion occasionally of a 
little caustic. It should never be allowed to heal unless 
the attendant is satisned it is sound at the bottom ; other- 
wise, as before observed, deep-seated abscess and sinuses 
will result. 
When the opening is small, pus has accumulated, and the 
swelling above extensive, it is better to enlarge the wound 
with a scalpel, or lance, and inject it with warm water. 
Contused wounds are best treated by poulticing and fo- 
mentation ; if only slight, nature herself will effect a cure. 
Sloughing, more or less, may be expected if the wound 
is more than superficial. When the injury extends to the 
deeper-seated structures, and there is much extravasation 
of blood, scarifying and repeated fomentations are indicated, 
When the crushing has been so great that the textures un- 
derneath the muscles and blood-vessels are ruptured, exten- 
sive sloughing is sure to follow. Healing in such a case 
takes place by granulation, and the reparation needed being 
generally considerable, caustic applications are more fre- 
quently required, with daily cleansing, and the injection 
from time to time of the stimulating liniment. 
Incised or torn cartilage is perhaps the most difficult 
structure to unite, and its union, if accomplished, is very 
tardy. Thus ragged or slit-eared dogs are frequently seen. 
An exceptional case of this description came under my 
notice on the 24th of January, 1887: The subject, a 
Dandie Dinmont terrier, the property of Cecil Kent, Esq., 
St. Leonard’s, had its ear seized on the evening of the date 
named, by a bull terrier, and nearly detached in a cross- 
wise direction from the head, the entire substance of the 
flap being divided more than three-quarters of its breadth. 
