678 OPERATIONS. 



fact of the flexor tendons and ligEiments being relaxed by the 

 knee and fetlock being bent, will greatly aid the good effect of 

 the massage. 



In veterinary practice, massage is particularly useful in sprains, 

 bruises (including inflammatory swellings from unevenly distributed 

 pressure, as in saddle and harness galls), synovial enlargements 

 (p. 320), serous cysts (p. 331), swollen joints, sore shins (p. 246), 

 and in the first stages of splints. 



If the skin of a part which requires to be massaged is broken, 

 the rubbing or kneading should be applied only to the neighbour- 

 ing parts that have their skin intact. 



Massage is valuable not only in cases of injury and disease, but 

 also for promoting the general , health, and preventing it being 

 lowered under ordinary conditions of life. For instance, it is 

 particularly useful in the relief of muscular fatigue, the feeling of 

 which arises from the presence, in the over-worked muscles, of 

 certain waste products of muscular contraction, which more or 

 less paralyse the muscles for the time being. It may therefore 

 be concluded that their removal is the cause of the rapid restora- 

 tion of muscular vigour which follows well-applied massage in 

 these cases. Referring to the experiments of Zabludowski in 

 demonstrating the restorative effects of massage on fatigued 

 muscles. Dr. Eccles tells us that in a -series of experiments on 

 able-bodied men, in whom the muscles of the fore arm were 

 rendered powerless both by the exhaustion following rhythmical 

 contractions stimulated by the induction current, and by the 

 fatigue of squeezing a dynamometer until the pressure became 

 so feeble that the indicator could not be made to travel beyond 

 five pounds. In every case the limb was subjected to ten minutes' 

 massage, with the result that whereas ten minutes' rest alone 

 produced little or no effect on the pressure, after massage the 

 indicator pointed to a rise of from forty to fifty pounds. The 

 measurement of the limbs before and after massage was taken, 

 with the result that at the period of greatest exhaustion, the 

 circumference of the fore arm had increased in some cases three- 

 eighths of an inch ; at the conclusion of ten minutes' rest without 

 massage, no diminution had occurred, but after massage, three- 

 fourths of an inch decrease has been noted. These experiments 

 scientifically prove that the good effects of massage on fatigued 

 horses, should be largely utilised. In England, the ordinary 

 strapper or even stud groom regards grooming as merely a form 

 of " eye-wash ; " but a capable Indian syce krows how to hath 

 mulna (massage) a fatigued horse, so as to make him fresh again 

 in about twenty minutes. 



The evident pleasure which stroking gives horses, cats, dogs and 



