Healing of Wounds 165 
must be destroyed by burning with a stick of lunar 
caustic. 
In another method of healing, the blood and juices 
collected in the wound form a protective coat, or scab, 
and healing takes place under this. The seab should 
never be removed unless pus or matter collects under it. 
Tn cases in which wounds heal by granulation or under 
a seab, new tissue fills in the gap of the wound and 
makes the sear, which is likely to remain as a perma- 
nent blemish. In wounds which have been sewed up 
and have done well, the stitches can be cut and removed 
in about four or five days, providing there is no strain 
on the tissues to pull them apart. In cases when the 
stitches become loosened they should be cut and re- 
placed by others that hold firmly, unless the wound has 
united, when they can be clipped and removed. 
It is frequently necessary to make wounds. They 
should be made quickly, to avoid giving the animal 
pain, and so far as possible the cut should be made 
parallel with the muscular fibers of the region. A good 
general rule is to cut with the direction of the hair. 
When wusceular fibers are cut across, the wound tends to 
spread apart. Before such work is attempted, the animal 
should be securely confined, so that it cannot hurt itself 
or the operator by biting, striking, kicking or struggling. 
DISEASES AND ABNORMAL GROWTHS 
Under this general head there are grouped, for con- 
venience’ sake, diseases and difficulties that are due to 
many unlike causes. In all of them, however, the 
