CHAPTER VIII 
SURGICAL CASES’ 
For convenience to the stockman and horseman, 
it may be well to bring together in one chapter the 
various diseases and practices that demand more or 
less of surgical treatment. These subjects are of three 
rather distinet categories: mere wounds; diseases and 
malformations; practices (as caponizing and dehorn- 
ing) that are dictated by the desire of the owner. 
INFLAMMATION 
It is first necessary to discuss the general subject 
of inflammation, since an understanding of it is essen- 
tial to all good surgical work. 
Inflammation is a curative process employed by 
nature to repair injuries or to overcome disease. It 
is always the result of irritation of some kind, the 
bruising of the cells, or the presence of foreign bodies, 
as germs, or other irritating substances in the living 
tissues. The process of inflammation is nature’s means 
of fighting the irritant. In many cases, the cause of 
the inflammation, is easily recognizable, in others it is 
obscure. Inflammation occurs in either an acute or a 
chronic form. In the former, all the symptoms are 
well marked; in the latter, the symptoms are not so 
(156 ) 
