AND HIP-JOINTS. 
405 
the part indicating abnormal displacement of the femur, and 
which could be easily recognized by placing the hand on the hip- 
joint while the animal was moving. I need not say that the first 
symptoms were indicative of lesion of the muscles, and the se- 
cond of distention of the articular ligaments. 
That which I have observed respecting the hind limbs is equally 
applicable to the fore ones : with regard to them, however, they 
are the muscles of the external face of the shoulder that first en- 
large and then waste away. 
The symptoms, however, are not ordinarily so marked as I have 
described them to be. In the great majority of cases, and espe- 
cially when the lameness is not of very long standing, they 
consist only in lameness . There are, however, some definite 
symptoms accompanying this lameness. Thus, to lesions of the 
shoulders and hip-joints we in general assign lamenesses of Jong 
continuance, and the evident cause of which we are able to find 
at the inferior regions of those articulations. The immediate and 
careful examination of the presumed situation of the lesion is 
the best mode of arriving at the truth. 
When the veterinarian has satisfied himself with regard to the 
actual existence of a chronic lesion of either of these joints, M. de 
Nanzio recommends the following mode of proceeding: — 
1. To make a vertical incision from three and a half to four 
inches in length into the skin which covers the suspected articu- 
lation, taking care not to penetrate deeper than the actual sub- 
stance of the skin. 
2. To separate the integument from its adhesion to the subcu- 
taneous tissue, as for the introduction of a rowel, and until there 
is a circular space the diameter of which is equal to the length of 
the incision. 
3. Then by successive and gentle applications to bury a dull 
pointed cautery (a budding iron), brought to a yellow red heat, 
in the tissues beneath, and so that it shall penetrate to a depth 
of from an inch and a quarter to an inch and a half, according to 
the size of the patient and the region on which the operation is 
performed. In order to avoid burning the skin, an assistant must 
hold aside the edges of it with a flat crotchet guarded by paper 
or lint. Four, five, or six of these cautery lesions may be made, 
according to the space from which the skin has been dissected. 
4. The incision should now be filled with a dry pledget of lint 
at first, and afterwards with one impregnated with simple diges- 
tive ointment, and this must be continued until the cautery wounds 
and the incision are healed, care being taken to keep the edges 
and other parts of the wound in their proper situation when 
suppuration is established. 
vol. x. 3 G 
