OPEN JOINTS 169 



In order to determine the amount of irritation pro- 

 duced by glycerin, we injected two ounces, slightly warm, 

 •into the joint capsule of a horse. Twenty-two hours 

 later the animal wds ^killed.' It had shown no signs of 

 irritation, and the capsule of the joint failed to show 

 any congestion. Another animal, treated in the same 

 way, was kUled forty-eight hours after injection, and 

 failed to show any symptoms, and the joint capsule re- 

 mained normal. Two other animals were injected in ^ 

 the stifle joint in the same manner. One was killed on 

 the third day; the other, at the end of two weeks. 

 Neither showed any ill effects from the injection, and 

 ; the joint capsules remained normal. In all, fourteen 

 horses were injected, and none showed any signs of a 

 disturbance in the joint. 



Later, injections of twenty-per-cent Lugol's solution 

 in glycerin were made in the same manner, and the ani- 

 mals killed at intervals of four, eighteen, and forty-eight 

 hours, and three weeks. In all, we were unable to see 

 that any irritation had been produced. 



The treatment recommended by us for open joints, in 

 which we wish to prevent ankylosis, is, first, to shave all 

 hair from the area surrounding the wound, following 

 with a thorough cleansing of the skin and disinfection 

 of the wound, and then to inject a twenty-per-cent Lu- 

 gol's ^solution in glycerin into the wound. This should 

 be repeated two or three times a day, each time enough 

 of the solution being injected to. fill the joint capsule, 

 thereby securing the flushing .effect. As -this solution 

 does not cause irritation to the tissue and yet is a strong 

 antiseptic, it serves to shorten the period of. congestion 

 and inflammation and to overcome the infection without 

 causing a destruction, of the secreting membrane until 

 the external wound.has had time to heal. The injection 

 of this solution seems to retard the excessive secretion of 



