WOUNDS. 423 
insecure it may appear. Respect it, and it will fall off when its service 
is accomplished. The cure is nearly completed when the white ball 
falls. Shortly after the wounds being closed, and pressure made with 
the fingers—not with the thumb—can be endured, the slings may be 
removed; though the healing should be further confirmed before the 
horse is allowed to stand opposite to any substance against which it 
may strike what recently has been a fearful open joint. 
WOUNDS. 
To this species of injury the horse is much exposed from the reckless- 
ness or incompetence of those who assume to hold the reins of authority. 
Occurrences which are politely termed ‘ accidents,” generally entail 
suffering upon the blameless animal. The common provocatives of such 
accidents are either the drunkenness of man or his utter ignorance of 
the mental attributes of the quadruped he has possession of. The first 
cause shall be passed over in disgust; the second merits some consider- 
ation, being rather a universal than an individual fault. 
When a horse pauses, always endeavor to ascertain the motive; the 
reason may be groundless. By gentleness, convince the creature that 
its fears are without foundation, and you earn a supremacy as well as 
win a gratitude which will always be cheerfully acknowledged. Never 
employ the whip to correct ‘the obstinacy of the brute.” The horse 
is naturally very fearful; were it not so, man would never have obtained 
that mastery which is imperative for domestication. Elderly gentlemen 
should never thrust their heads out of carriage windows and shout to 
the driver to “go on.” Such implied chiding may urge the coachman 
to display severity, and the horse is dangerous when alarmed. So long 
as the animal continues calm, the superiority of man is submitted to; 
but once excite the terror of the quadruped, and all earthly restraint 
is powerless. Dread assumes the form of the wildest fury, and the 
horse tears onward, insensible to mortal punishment and blind to every 
danger. 
It is in this manner the most terrible wounds are produced. Such 
injuries, in surgical language, are defined to be ‘‘solutions of continuity,” 
or “separations of the skin and soft parts underneath.” Neither of 
these definitions, however, includes a bruise or a contused wound. There- 
fore, for the present purpose, a wound will be interpreted an injury in- 
flicted by external violence. 
A lacerated wound may be too trivial to attract the surgeon’s notice, 
as a scratch. It may also be a very serious affair, as when a cart-wheel 
runs against a horse’s thigh, tearing the flesh asunder. Laceration is 
