the Animals of the Farm. 
24& 
does not arise, and it is with reference to these common 
disorders that advice as to treatment is most needed. 
Wounds and other Injuries. — Accidents in the stable and in 
the field are sufficiently common among the animals of the farm, 
to render it necessary for the farmer to be prepared to deal 
with injuries of a trifling kind not requiring any surgical 
operation. Wounds, bruises, and sprains are the principal forms 
of injuries which are likely to be met with, and although the 
treatment which each form demands will be modified by various 
circumstances, there are certain general principles which must 
always guide the application of remedial measures. 
JFoiinds. — It may be accepted as a fact beyond question that 
wounds heal naturally in a healthy state of the system, and the 
process cannot be accelerated, although it may easily be retarded. 
The unhealthy state which wounds sometimes assume is gene- 
rally due to the introduction of septic germs from without ; 
and the first essentials of treatment are to remove all dirt and 
foreign matter from the injured parts, and to protect them from 
infection by excluding the air and everything else, by the agency 
of an antiseptic barrier of medicated cotton or gauze. All oint- 
ments, tinctures, lotions, or plasters may be discarded with 
advantage from the list of domestic appliances for the cure of 
wounds, and the amateur surgeon may content himself with the 
simple expedient of adjusting the edges of the wound as per- 
fectly as his skill will enable him to do ; and then applying a 
little carbolised cotton-wool, to be kept in its place by means of 
a bandage of carbolised gauze. Under this method of treatment 
healing takes place without any inflammation, or the occurrence 
of discharge, unless the adjacent parts have been much damaged 
by the force which caused the injury. 
Injuries to the foot are commonly the cause of lameness, 
which is in many cases well marked, without the cause being 
apparent. As a general rule, it is safe to ascribe all lameness 
to injury or disease of the foot until the contrary is proved. 
Professor Coleman is credited with the utterance of a dictum, 
that if the cause of a horse's lameness could be shown to be 
centred in the animal's head, it is nevertheless necessary to seek 
for it in the foot ; and the frequent occurrence of wounds and 
bruises in this organ from shoeing, and also from contact with 
hard substances on roads, sufficiently justifies the learned 
Professor's maxim. 
In every case of lameness, especially when the fore-limbs 
are affected, the shoe should be removed, and the foot searched 
by paring, and by pressing with the pincers, until it is quite 
clear from the absence of pain on pressure that no injury has 
been inflicted. If, as commonly happens, an abscess is detected, 
whether it arises from a prick by a badly-driven nail in 
