572 TREATMENT OP OPEN JOINT BY METALLIC SUTURE. 
to the causes pointed out by Professor Varnell, still the 
case presents many features of interest, especially in con¬ 
nection with the class of plants now T under consideration, 
the effects of which upon animals are so little understood. 
(:To be continued.) 
TREATMENT OF OPEN JOINT BY METALLIC 
SUTURE. 
By Wm. Hall, Y.S. 6th Dragoon Guards, Aldershot. 
An irritable thorough-bred horse received a punctured 
wound, about an inch long, at the aiitero-lateral part of the 
true hock-joint, from which the synovia flowed in a stream 
down the leg, and even spurted a little when the leg was 
moved. 
The patient, when first seen, was found to have the limb 
much swollen and very painful. He was suffering greatly 
from inflammatory fever; his mouth was hot, pulse 70, and 
his countenance very anxious. He was also bedewed with, 
perspiration, and was very restless. 
The wound was pinned up with common pins, and 
drawn closely together with ligatures, over which a little 
fine tow was neatly lapped. Aloes Barb. 5v were ad¬ 
ministered, his head tied up, and the joint frequently bathed 
with aconite lotion. 
On the following day the swelling had abated considerably, 
and the horse stood pretty firmly on his leg. The purgative 
was acting, and the febrile symptoms had nearly disappeared. 
Nitrated water was ordered in the evening and during the 
O o 
three following days, after which the head was let down. 
All medicine was now discontinued. The sutures were 
allowed to drop out. In one week the patient had returned 
to his work, with the joint the natural size, and the wound 
healed by the “ first intention,” leaving only a slight cicatrix. 
