428 DISEASES OF THE HOESE. 



If the coffin joint has been penetrated, either by the offending 

 instrument or by the process of suppuration, acute inflammation o£ 

 the joint follows, accompanied with high fever, loss of appetite, etc. 

 The ankle and coronet are now greatly swollen, and dropsy of the 

 leg to the knee or hock, or even to the body, often follows. If the 

 process of suppuration continues, small abscesses appear at intervals 

 on different parts of the coronet, the patient rapidly loses flesh, and 

 may die from intense suffering and blood poisoning. In other cases 

 the suppuration soon disappears, and recovery is effected by the 

 joint becoming stiff (anchylosis). 



When the wound is forward, near the toe, and deep enough to 

 injure the coffin bone, caries always results. The presence of the 

 dead pieces of bone can be determined by the use of the probe; the 

 bone feels rough and gritty. Furthermore, there is no disposition 

 upon the part of the wound to heal. 



Besides the complications above mentioned, others equally as seri- 

 ous may be met with. The tendons may soften and rupture, the hoof 

 may slough off, quittors develop, or sidebones and ringbones grow. 

 Finally, laminatis of the opposite foot may happen if the patient 

 persists in standing, or lockjaw may cause early death. 



Treatment. — In all cases the horn around the seat of injury should 

 be thinned down, a free opening made for the escape of the products 

 of suppuration, and the foot placed in a poultice. If the injury is 

 not serious, recovery takes place in a few days. When the wound 

 is deeper it is better to put the foot into a cold bath or under a 

 stream of cold Avater, as advised in the treatment for quittor. 



If the bone is injured, cold baths, containing about 2' ounces each 

 of sulphate of copper and sulphate of iron, may be used until the 

 dead bone is well softened, when it should be removed by an opera- 

 tion. The animal must be cast for this operation. The sole is pared 

 away until the diseased bone is exposed, when all the dead particles 

 are to be removed with a drawing knife, and the wound dressed with 

 3 per cent compound cresol solution or a 5 per cent solution of car- 

 bolic acid, oakum balls, and a roller bandage. 



Wounds of the bone which are made by a blunt-pointed instrument, 

 like the square-pointed cut nail, in which a portion of the surface is 

 driven into the deeper parts of the bone, always progress slowly, and 

 should be operated upon as soon as the conditions are favorable. 

 Even wounds of the navicular bone, accompanied with caries, may be 

 operated on and the life of the patient saved ; but the most skillful 

 surgery is required and only the experienced operator should under- 

 take their treatment. 



If there is an escape of pure synovial fluid from a wound of the 

 sole, without injury to the bone, a small pencil of corrosive sublimate 



