88 
WOUNDS OF THE ARTICULATIONS. 
with a view to prepare for the application of vesicants or 
caustics. 
These remarks against the use of emollients do not apply 
to other antiphlogistic agents, such as diet, general and 
local bleeding, which may be useful to ameliorate the general 
state of the patient. 
Astringents and refrigerants . — These are generally used at 
the commencement, and justly so. Their principal use 
consists in preventing sanguineous reaction, and by subduing 
inflammation ; but to effect this it is necessary that their 
application is continuous, if not, they produce an effect the 
reverse of that which is intended, because the reaction would 
soon manifest itself with a greater intensity in the wounded 
parts. 
The appearance of metastasis on the respiratory or digestive 
viscera has been ascribed by some to the use of astringents, 
but this is erroneous, for as they are only applied to a small 
surface, they simply produce local effects. 
The applications which have been recommended are cold 
local baths, either with ordinary or acidulated water, viz., Liq. 
Plumbi Acet. Dil., or a weak solution, of Ferri Sulph. ; Zinci 
Sulph. ; Alum., &c. A very simple, and a very efficacious, 
proceeding consists in surrounding the wounded articulation 
with a bandage or a pledget of lint, which is kept wet during 
the day with one of these medicaments. These agents, which 
are also recommended for sprains, are equally suited to these 
cases, because they prevent inflammation of the white fibrous 
tissues. This is the treatment which we always prescribe, 
during the first days, in the treatment of articular wounds. 
To some astringents a specific action has been attributed, 
that of coagulating the albumen, and forming with the synovia 
a clot, which obstructs the articular fistula. Thus M. Causse 
has prescribed tannin,* but the facts which he has published 
are but few and unsatisfactory, especially those which relate 
to wounds of the hock, as these have been attended by very 
incomplete cures. We have experimented in similar cases 
with tannin and oak bark, and when we succeeded in healing 
the fistula, the cure has been compromised by considerable 
enlargement, against which firing itself has been ineffectual. 
This is because tannin only arrests the flow of the synovia, 
and does not prevent the complications which menace the 
articulation. 
Vesicants and their substitutes . — These are undoubtedly the 
most efficacious agents which are used in the treatment of 
articular wounds, and their application is becoming more and 
* Causse, Journal des Veterinaires du Midi, 1846, p. 73, 109. 
