694 
CASES. 
By R. H. Dyer, M.R.C.V.S.L., Jersey. 
Case L — Open Knee Joint treated with Bichloride 
of Mercury. 
The patient was a small pony, aged three years. He was 
thrown down upon the pavement about five weeks ago, and so 
severe was the fall, that open joint was the consequence. After 
the usual preliminary treatment, such as washing and probing, had 
been had recourse to, I applied pulv. hyd. bichlorid. pretty exten- 
sively over the wound, over which I placed some tow, and bound it 
on rather tightly with calico saturated with starch-water, the bandage 
extending from just below the elbow to the pastern joint. That being 
properly adjusted, I applied another roll of tow and another long 
bandage as before, and over all I applied a bandage free from starch- 
water; the pony to be kept standing tied up to the rack, so that 
there might be no chance of injuring the leg or disturbing the dress- 
ing. His diet to consist of bran mashes and grass, to prevent sympto- 
matic fever setting in, which I considered likely to be produced by 
the application of the hyd. bichlor. The leg became enormously 
swollen in the course of forty-eight hours, to relieve which I made 
incisions in the bandages at the sides of the limb, and applied warm 
fomentations above and below the knee, which effectually caused 
the swelling to diminish. In a week from the time of being 
called to my patient I removed the dressing, and to my gratifica- 
tion I found the joint healed up, no synovia whatever escaping ; 
but when I was first called, the synovial fluid was flowing in large 
quantities. The treatment pursued was, then, the same as in a case 
of a common wound which is proceeding to a favourable termination. 
The only thing now requiring to be done is for Nature to set to work 
and form new skin, which we all know to be one of the most diffi- 
cult operations she has to perform. I feel called upon to describe 
this mode of treating open knee joint, as there have been such a 
variety of modes adopted for its cure ; being at the same time 
aware that we cannot hope to be so speedily successful in all cases 
of the kind. 
Case II. — Tuberculous Lungs, with Pleurisy. 
I was called on the evening of the 8th November 1845, by the pro- 
prietor of livery stables, to give my opinion respecting an aged mare. 
She had been ill only a few days, on the Saturday previous. The 
practitioner who was attending her bled her three times, adminis- 
