202 
INFLAMED AND FISTULOUS WITHERS. 
WE must now speak of inflamed and fistulous withers. Excepting in 
position, this condition is closely allied to poll-evil. Its nature and 
causation are similar to those just considered. Bruises, inflicted by ill-fitting 
saddles, are generally answerable for the production of these conditions of 
the withers. It will readily be understood that an animal with highly-elevated 
withers, will be especially liable to injury from this cause. The principles 
of treatment of these conditions are similar to those already described in 
speaking of poll-evil. In slight cases of bruised and inflamed withers, the 
application of cooling lotions, and the administration of a dose of aloes, will 
generally suffice. The diet should be of a laxative nature. When matter 
is formed, it is necessary to open the abscess freely, at its lowest part, as 
early as possible, so as to prevent it burrowing among the tissues. Warm 
water fomentations, and the application of poultices of bran or other 
material, are then necessary. 
There is, as a rule, no difficulty in perceiving when the inflammation 
has resulted in the formation of an abscess. The soft fluctuating feeling of 
the imprisoned matter, and the falling of the hair from the most prominent 
part of the swelling, indicate the formation of matter. When, as sometimes 
happens in poll-evil, the case assumes a chronic form, as the result of the 
burrowing of matter, or from portions of bone decaying, and thus causing 
irritation, the diseased channels must be freely opened and treated as in poll- 
evil. The application of a smart blister around the diseased part is sometimes 
valuable in such cases in promoting healing. 
OPEN JOINTS. 
ONE of the gravest forms of injury to which the horse is liable, is the 
opening of an important joint. The joints most commonly’ thus seriously 
injured, by a kick or a fall, are the hock and knee. These injuries are 
followed by very marked constitutional disturbance, manifested by high 
fever, and there is, in most cases, great emaciation, resulting from the con- 
tinual escape of synovial fluid from the joint. -Such a discharge of fluid is 
usually an early symptom, and indicates the serious nature of the injury 
sustained. Sometimes, we should point out, the oil may ooze from the 
wound of a joint, even when the latter is not opened. This occurrence is 
then to be attributed to the fact that the synovial covering of the bones 
entering into the formation of the joint is in an inflamed condition. The 
serous discharge from an open joint, at first thin and pellucid, soon becomes. 
thicker, yellowish, and purulent. The joint swells more as the inflammatory 
action becomes more established, and will be observed to be very painful 
and tender. The febrile symptoms, in unfavourable cases, show no signs of 
abatement, the pain continues to be very severe, the appetite is wholly or 
partially lost, and the poor animal sinks,'as the result of the constitutional 
disturbance and the exhausting discharge. In those instances where the 
