552 
SOCIETY MEETINGS. 
SOCIETY MEETINGS. 
MASSACHUSETTS VETERINARY ASSOCIATION. 
The regular meeting of the Massachusetts Veterinary Association was held 
<at 19 Boylston Place, Boston, on September 24th. The President, Dr. Thomas 
Blackwood, occupied the chair, and the members present were Drs. Ferguson, 
Hadcock, Howard, Marshall, Osgood, Peterson, J. S. Saunders, Winchester, 
and the Secretary; also Dr. Stickney, honorary member; Dr. E. C. Beckett, as 
guest; and Dr. Emerson, the essayist of the evening. 
After the transaction of the routine business, Dr Emerson read a paper on 
“Punctured Wounds of the Foot, involving the Joint,” at the conclusion of 
which the following discussion took place. 
Dr. Ferguson asked the essayist how he accounted for the emaciation being 
more rapid following wounds of the hind feet than those of the fore feet. The 
essayist thought that it might be because it is harder for a horse to stand upon 
two fore feet and a hind foot than it is upon two hind feet and one fore foot. 
Dr. Howard thought that next to a case of colic at two o’clock in the morn¬ 
ing, he knew of nothing that would make a man more tired than a badly punc¬ 
tured wound of the foot. He said he wanted to see it as soon after it occurred 
as possible, and to be sure and pare it off enough. He also spoke of a plan of 
treatment suggested to him by a certain irregular practitioner of Boston, for 
horses which had lost the use of a foot, which he thought a very brilliant plan. 
It consisted of a crutch which this man claims to have invented. It can be fas¬ 
tened on the lame leg and the horse turned out to pasture. 
Dr. Marshall spoke of the application of Dr. Berns’s pads to punctured 
wounds of the feet, as he had seen them used by the inventor during a recent 
visit to Brooklyn. The pad is first wet in a solution of fennel, and kept in place 
by a bandage. The foot can also be soaked in a pail or tub containing a solu¬ 
tion of the fennel during the day. 
Dr. Peterson liked to cleanse the wound daily with a solution of corrosive 
sublimate, applied with a syringe. 
Dr. Beckett said he used a strong solution of carbolic acid, eighty-five to 
ninety per cent., made soluble by adding glycerine; it seems to have a power¬ 
ful effect in stimulating the injured parts to heal, whan applied early. 
The President also spoke of the use of carbolic acid: in one of the car sta¬ 
bles under his charge it is customary to pull the nail out after it is picked up, 
and then to pour a few drops of carbolic acid into the nail-hole at once, and 
often with very good results. He did not approve of paring off too much horn 
at first in these cases, as it was not always necessary. 
Dr. Howard said that he had often obtained very good results on many 
kinds of wounds, on various parts of the animal, by painting the part with an 
eighty-five or ninety per cent, solution of carbolic acid, applied by a glass rod. 
Dr. Howard moved that a vote of thanks be given the essayist for his paper, 
and that the Secretary cast a ballot for his admission as a member of this Asso¬ 
ciation. Being seconded by Dr. Marshall and carried, the Secretary cast the 
ballot, and Dr, Emerson was declared elected a member, 
