694 CONTRIBUTIONS TO VETERINARY MEDICINE. 
daily, allowed it to remain forty-eight hours. The result was, 
I had two openings to deal with instead of one; not an 
improvement of the case, certainly, unless the primary 
wound is dependent, and drains the joint. In the event of 
another opening being produced by the distension, it is 
generally on the inside of the hock, between the tibia and 
calcis. This wound does not drain the joint, but allows of 
the more easy closure of the first; though, where it i3 
desired, 1 should now prefer making it with the knife to the 
natural mode. Neither the hock, knee, nor stiple joints are 
often opened without bruise ; and the contusion, I am 
inclined to think, plays a more considerable part in the 
lighting up of synovitis than the escape of the synovia. 
Some earnestly recommend enveloping the joint in flour, 
and things of that nature, and leaving it so. In addition to 
the reluctance naturally felt at not seeing the wound for so 
long a time, the discharge is not completely arrested, but 
only partially, which object we can fulfil in another way, 
and it invariably in time becomes puriform, and irritates the 
external surface of the joint, the very thing we wish to avoid. 
I have known corrosive sublimate applied in powder, with 
the object of causing coagulation of the synovia; but it is 
much more likely to do harm by increasing both the wound 
and present irritation. Rest I have found very difficult to 
obtain; and any increased uneasiness in the limb, is a sure 
sign of mischief beginning or going on. I use two cords, 
one attached through a pulley before, and the other in the 
same way from behind, to the pastern (in the case of the 
hock joint) with weights at the other end. They will give 
way to a violent movement, but resist a slight one. At a 
later date, pasteboard splints, flour bandages, &c., are more 
useful. In the earlier stages I have found great benefit re¬ 
sult from frequent bathing of the part with opium, henbane 3 
or hyoscyamus, and giving calomel and opium internally. 
When these have brought the synovitis to the lowest 
chronic stage I can hope for, or when the discharge is as 
little as I can expect it ever to be, I attempt permanent 
closure of the wound with the actual cautery inserted a tole¬ 
rable way into the opening, very hot , and only momentarily 
applied, always waiting for the ulcerative action of the remedy 
to subside before making a reapplication. With this 
treatment, in the last case 1 had, I had permanent closure in 
five weeks. 
Mr. Gloag’s Physiology of the Foot. 
It has been stated, in objection to the above, that no 
