637 
A NEW MODE OF TREATING WOUNDS IN THE 
JOINTS. 
By M. Mercier, M. V., d Evreux. 
Wounds penetrating into the articulations are, of all the solu¬ 
tions of continuity of the tissues, the most serious, and the most 
difficult to be treated. 
They are, in the majority of cases, produced by exterior vio¬ 
lence, but they are sometimes consecutive on acute inflammation of 
the articulations. 
Among our domesticated quadrupeds they oftenest occur in the 
horse. 
Some articulations, by means of their position, are more exposed 
to this malady than others. 
The primitive wounds in the articulations differ from those which 
are consecutive in their symptoms, march, duration, and curability. 
The primitive wound announces itself, all at once, by a fistula, 
straight or sinuous, large or small, which leads into the articulatory 
cavity. From this fistula is discharged a tenacious fluid, abundant, 
yellow, transparent, and inodorous, and which forms on the surface 
of the wound an albuminous clot of slight consistence—in a word, 
it is the synovia which is escaping from the articulation. There is 
at first neither inflammation, nor heat, nor pain, nor the fever of 
reaction. At the commencement of the affection, if there is but 
little swelling of the joint, and the fistula is straight and not deep, 
the wound will often heal naturally, and in a short time. 
When the case is not thus favourable, the serous synovial mem¬ 
brane, and the tissues which surround it, become the seat of acute 
inflammation—there is swelling of the joint—a fever of reaction, and 
ordinarily of an intense character, comes on—the fluid which runs 
from the fistula becomes purulent—it increases in quantity, and at the 
expiration of four-and-twenty hours, and especially in hot weather, 
it begins to diffuse a peculiar putrid smell. It is deposited on the 
surface of the dressing in the form of large yellow soft clots, in¬ 
filtrated by an abundance of serous fluid, and which escapes on 
pressure. 
A cure is sometimes obtained, but always very slowly, and fol¬ 
lowed by true or false anchylosis. 
Ordinarily, from the expense of a protracted treatment, the owner 
finds himself under the necessity of destroying the patient. 
When the wound is consecutive to acute inflammation of the 
articulation, it is accompanied by symptoms resembling those al¬ 
ready described, but more intense. The progress of the disease 
is more rapid, and its termination is ordinarily fatal. 
