ON OPENED JOINTS. 
531 
other places oil the cranium, so as to produce considerable slough¬ 
ing and discharge. This was soon put to the test, and toe ini* 
mediate result was as satisfactory as could be oesued. torn 
sheep were cauterized and seemed to be peifectly cuied, and 
they continued apparently well during four months, when the 
disease returned, and they died. This mode of treatment, theie- 
fore, rapidly lost the reputation which it had accrued, and fell 
into comparative disuse. 
I have dwelt thus long on this disease, because it is a sadly 
fatal one, and you should be acquainted with everything that 
has been done or can be done respecting it ; and as often as you 
have opportunity, I trust that you will enter on a course of expeu- 
ments that may by possibility lead you to some successful result. 
but in the present state of our knowledge and practice, I am 
afraid that, regarding the interest of your employers, you should 
advise them when the turnsick begins to appear among the 
lambs, to fatten them as quickly as they can, and to slaughter 
those that may become affected the moment the disease is ascer¬ 
tained. This is a most lame and impotent conclusion. I am 
sorry for it; but truth must be our guide. 
ON OPENED JOINTS. 
By Mr. Kerr. 
To the Editors of “ The Veterinarian” 
Gentlemen,— Should the following plan for the treatment of 
opened joints—more especially of the knee—which, as far as I am 
aware, has never been recommended by any veterinary writer—be 
deemed worth publishing in your periodical, I shall feel gratified 
by its insertion. The success of the plan, combined with its sim¬ 
plicity in lacerations of so serious a nature, I think and hope will 
entitle it to a nook. 
Of course, the first thing to be done, after the patient is placed 
in the stall or box that he is intended to occupy without being 
disturbed, is to cleanse the wound; and ragged portions of in¬ 
tegument, &c. may be at once removed (it is a quicker, and I 
think better treatment than waiting for the sloughing process— 
at least I always do it, and am well satisfied); then place a splint 
behind the knee, secure it well high up above , and six inches, at 
least, below the joint. Use no external covering , but expose 
the wound to the air. In a short time the synovia will co¬ 
agulate. Let it alone . On no account disturb the clot, except it 
should by its increase become so heavy as to endanger its tearing 
