LAMENESS: ITS CAUSES AND TREATMENT, 359 
With this the danger becomes very great, for soon suppuration will be 
established, then the external coat of the articulation proper becomes 
ulcerated, if it is not already in that state, and we find ourselves in 
the presence of an open joint with suppurative synovitis—that is, with 
the worst among the conditions of diseased processes, because of the 
liability of the suppuration to become infiltrated into every part of the 
joint, macerating the ligaments and irritating the cartilages, soon to 
be succeeded by their ulceration, with the destruction of the articular 
surface—or the lesion of ulcerative arthritis, one of the gravest among 
all the disorders known to the animal economy. 
Ulcerative arthritis and suppurative synovitis may be developed 
otherwise than in connection with open joints; the simplest and ap- 
parently most harmless punctures may prove to be sufficient cause. 
For example, a horse may be kicked, perhaps, on the inside of the 
heck; there is a mark and a few drops of blood to indicate the spot; 
he is put to work apparently free from pain or lameness and per- 
forms his task with his usual ease and facility. On the following 
morning, however, the hock is found to be a little swollen and there 
is some stiffness. A little later on he betrays a degree of uneasiness in 
the leg, and shrinks from resting his weight upon it, moving it up 
and down for relief. The swelling has increased and is increasing; 
the pain is severe; and finally, at the spot where the kick inpinged, 
there is an oozing of an oily liquid mixed with whitish drops of sup- 
puration. The mischief is done; a simple, harmless, punctured 
wound has expanded into a case of ulcerative arthritis and suppura- 
tive synovitis. 
Prognosis.——From ever so brief and succinct description of this 
' traumatism of the articulations, the serious and important character 
of these lesions, irrespective of which particular joint is affected, 
will be readily understood. Yet there will be modifications in the 
prognosis in different cases, in accordance with the peculiarities of 
structure in the joint specially involved, as, for example, it is ob- . 
vious that a better result may be expected from treatment when but 
a single joint, with only its plain articular surfaces, is the place of 
injury, than in one which is composed of several bones, united in a 
complex formation, as in the knee or hock. As severe a lesion as 
suppurative synovitis always is, and as frequently fatal as it proves 
to be, still cases arise in which, the inflammation assuming a modified 
character and at length subsiding, the lesion terminates favorably 
and leaves the animal with a comparatively sound and useful joint. 
There are cases, however, which terminate in no more favorable a 
result than the union of the bones and occlusion of the joint, to form 
an anchylosis, which is scarcely a condition to justify a high degree 
of satisfaction, as it insures a permanent lameness with very little 
capacity for usefulness. 
