AND PARTICULARLY THE KNEE. 277 
and the discharge of synovia ceased, but whether so or not, the 
same treatment should be continued. 
There is one curious circumstance that not unfrequently at¬ 
tends the process of cure by this treatment, and which I hail as 
a good omen, but which many writers have remarked upon as 
indicative of the total destruction of the joint. I allude to an 
eruption and discharge from another part of the joint, perhaps 
the back of the knee, and which they describe as the bursting of 
an abscess within the joint. I merely mention this fact to shew 
that these eruptions do not always communicate with the joint, 
and that I do not make a practice of indulging my curiosity by 
introducing a probe to ascertain that point, although a fluid may 
be escaping looking more like synovia than pus. 
The treatment here recommended is strictly mechanical, as far 
as relates to closing the joint: it consists in a surgical operation, 
conducted on the same principle as the setting of a fractured 
bone; and I have but little recourse to medicine, from a firm 
conviction that Nature’s restorative powers are fully adequate to 
the task. 
The swollen parts above and below the bandage may be rub¬ 
bed two or three times a-day with some discutient evaporating 
lotion, taking especial care that the part above the compress may 
not be left so wet as for the lotion to descend and trickle under 
the bandage. 
However w r ell the case may go on, I usually confine the horse 
to the sling until I am satisfied that the joint has remained 
closed about a w T eek. He may then be turned loose in a 
box for a few hours every day, but must return to his sling at 
night, until the joint appears to have regained sufficient strength. 
The original compress may now be cut off; and the limb should 
be lathered with warm bran water, soap, and flannel, every day, 
from elbow to hoof. The w'ound dressed with a plaister of diges¬ 
tive or mild tincture, and a single six-yard calico roller continued 
with only comfortable pressure. 
The granulations which may rise above the level of the skin 
will, of course, require to be subdued by the usual means ; and 
when the wound has completely healed, the knee may or may 
not require a common blister. 
I deem it requisite to observe, that some cases of opened knee- 
joints are so appalling, not only from the magnitude of the exter¬ 
nal wound, but likewise from the aperture in the capsular liga¬ 
ment being equally extensive, that if I were called in, even at the 
moment of the accident, I might despair of success by this or any 
other mode of treatment. But the case in which I least hesitate 
o o 
