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JOHN SCOTT 
parts involved. Ordinarily all that is required in the way of 
treatment is to pare away the horn from around the seat of in¬ 
jury to allow the escape of any discharges that may occur, and 
either apply a poultice or inject the wound with some antiseptic 
solution, but should the foreign body have penetrated the 
articulation or injured the bone, then we have indeed a serious 
case, and one that will tax the veterinarian’s patience, skill and 
ingenuity to the utmost. It would be impossible and absurd for 
me to attempt to outline any particular mode of treatment that 
would be applicable to all such cases, as scarcely any two could 
be treated in the same manner. Two ideas, however, in the 
successful treatment of such cases are paramount to all others. 
The first is, to allay the extreme inflammation that is always 
present. The second to arrest the flow of synovia as quickly as 
possible. Poultices and warm fomentations are the best agents to 
allay inflammation, but both tend to increase the flow of synovia, 
so it is a pretty hard matter for a man to know where he is at, 
and it is only by judiciously exercising good horse sense that we 
can be successful. My favorite prescription, after discontinuing 
the warm applications, to arrest the flow of synovia, is a powder 
composed of equal parts of tannic acid, dried alum, and gum 
arabic, applied to the opening, and retained there by pledgets of 
oakum and bandages, and here another difficulty presents itself 
in the fact that if the flow of synovia is dried up too rapidly, 
which this mixture will do, the result will be, the formation of 
one or more abscesses, which will discharge their contents, 
mixed with synovia, around the coronary band or heels. 
Patience and perseverance, however, will generally succeed in 
healing those. Such cases are always followed by severe and 
prolonged lameness, which can only be overcome by long rest 
and repeated blistering. 
Navicular Arthritis .—This is an affection seldom met with 
in horses used for slow work and draft purposes, but is one of 
the most fertile causes of lameness in the light harness horse, 
especially among those used in cities. As its name indicates, 
it is an inflammatory affection of the navicular joint, of the 
