LAMENESS : ITS CAUSES AND TBEATMENT. 389 



sively assume the serious characters of an ugly cicatrix, a hard, 

 plastic swelling, or perhaps, as witnessed at the knee, of periostitis 

 with its sequelae. 



If a single and constantly recurring cause — a blow — 'is the starting 

 point in interfering, we may now consider the subject of the predis- 

 position which brings such serious results upon the suffering animal, 

 and the conditions which lead to and accompany it. These are 

 numerous, but the first in frequency and importance is peculiarity 

 of conformation in the animals addicted to it. The first class will 

 include horses whose chests are narrow and whose legs do not stand 

 straight and upright, but are crooked and pigeon-toed in and out. 

 The second class includes those whose legs are weak, either from 

 youth or hard labor, or from severe attacks of sickness. Anothei" 

 class is made up of those having abnormally developed feet, or which 

 have been badly shod with unnecessarily wide or heavy shoes. An- 

 other class consists of those that are affected with swollen fetlocks or 

 chronic, edematous swelling of the leg. Another is formed of ani- 

 mals with a peculiar action, as those whose knee action is verj' high, 

 and it is these that furnish most of the cases of speedy cut. 



Prognosis. — The prognosis of interfering is never a very serious 

 one. However violent the blow may be it is rarely that subsequent 

 complications of a troublesome nature occur. The principal evil 

 attending it is a liability to be followed by a thickened or callous 

 deposit which is not only an eyesore and a blemish, but constitutes a 

 new and increased predisposition. The remark that "an animal 

 which has interfered once is always liable to interfere," is often con- 

 firmed and sanctioned by a recurrence of the trouble. 



Treatment. — ^Another point in which there is a resemblance between 

 this lesion and others which we have considered is in its responsive- 

 ness to the same treatment with them. Indeed, the prescription of 

 warm fomentations, soothing applications, and astringent and re- 

 solvent mixtures, in a majority of cases, is the first that occurs all 

 through the list. If the swelling assumes the character of a serous 

 collection, pressure, cold water, and bandages will contribute to its 

 removal. If suppuration seems to be established and the swelling 

 assumes the character of a developing abscess, hot poultices of flax- 

 seed or of boiled vegetables and the embrocations of sedative oint- 

 ments, those of basilicon, or vaseline, impregnated with preparations 

 of opium or belladonna — all these recommend themselves by their 

 general adaptation and the beneficial results which have followed 

 their administration, not less in one case than in another. When an 

 abscess has formed and is fluctuating, it should be carefully but fully 

 ■ opened to evacuate the pus. If it is a serous cyst, some care is neces- 

 sary in emptying it, and the possibility of the extension of the in- 

 flammation to the joint must be taken into consideration. Wlien the 



