50 
WOUNDS INTO JOINTS. 
saphena vein. Being called a few moments after the accident, 
I probed the wound; which I found to be eight lines in breadth, 
and to run in a direction from without inwards and from above 
downwards, among the tarsal bones. Inunctions of the hock 
with poplar ointment and emollient fomentations allayed the 
consequent inflammation. Lint plugs soaked in tincture of 
aloes, and introduced into the wound, diminished by degrees, 
effected a perfect restoration in twelve days. 
Case III. A broken knee and open joint. Treatment and 
result similar to the foregoing. 
Case IV. A horse, the property of M. Bertin, postmaster at 
Angers, had been lame for a long time of the off hind leg with¬ 
out any discoverable cause for the lameness, when a fistula 
made an eruption in the middle of the bend of the pastern. 
The probe extended across the joint, as far back as the sesamoi- 
dal groove. 
I operated as in a case of quittor, removing the cartilage and 
the ulcerated portion of the capsular ligament. The joint was 
open for the extent of an inch; the treatment was the same as 
that for quittor; and at the expiration of three months the 
animal resumed his work in the diligence, feeling nothing more 
than a little stiffness, which increased with fatigue. 
' Case V. A mare drawing a cart stumbled, and was near fall¬ 
ing upon a heap of angular flints. The off knee became bro¬ 
ken, the skin destroyed, and the joint opened, giving escape to 
synovia. A farrier, who was called in, applied some aromatic 
lotions, rubbed the knee with spirits of turpentine, and introduc¬ 
ed into the wound plugs of lint wetted with the same. Twelve 
days afterwards the tumefaction became considerable, and the 
animal made no use whatever of the limb. At this stao;e I was 
consulted. I found the knee and cannon almost bare from the 
frictions: and the whole limb highly inflamed and swollen to 
double its natural volume. The knee felt hard and was very sen¬ 
sitive ; synovia issued from the wound, but it was impossible to 
direct the probe into the joint in consequence of the sinuosities 
of the passage. Bleeding, fomentations, and emollient poul¬ 
tices dissipated in a few days the surrounding tumefaction; 
but the carpal bones became a prey to very active inflamma¬ 
tion, and in spite of remedy turned carious. The animal was 
destroyed. I was not able to make any examination of the 
parts. 
Under the treatment which I had already found so successful, 
this mare would probably have been saved; but the case, as it 
stood, only furnished me with a fresh proof of the utter incom¬ 
petence of farriers and quacks, but too often called to treat such 
