TREATMENT OF OPEN JOINTS. 
381 
animal ran down in condition rapidly; fungus or, more correctly 
speaking, exuberant granulations protruded from the wound on the near 
leg, so much so, that the doctor ligated the protrusions, and when I 
first saw the wound it had a very unhealthy appearance. The off hock 
was swollen very large, and synovia running constantly from the wound 
made by the harrow. The doctor, not satisfied with the number of 
leakages from the joint, plunged his knife into the most prominent 
portion of the swelling, from which, of course, synovia flowed copiously. 
In consequence of the rapidly failing condition of the horse, the Doyles 
wished the doctor to put the animal in the slings, this he utterly refused 
to do, saying, the animal would die, surely, if he did. The Doyles 
became disgusted with the doctor, and determined to come to the city 
for advice, and told the doctor they were coming. The doctor re¬ 
marked that no matter what any advised, the horse must not be put in 
slings ; if he was so placed he would certainly die. On the fifth of 
June, one of the brothers called on me, described the case, told how 
weak the animal was, and wished me to go and see if there was a 
chance of saving him. I went and found him full as bad as Doyle had 
described him. I told Mr. Doyle I thought there was a chance of sav¬ 
ing the horse if he was put in slings, so as to enable the animal to take 
some rest. There was no odor to the discharges, they were simply 
synovial. 
Mr. Doyle drove me back to the city, I took out my slings and 
with great difficulty moved the horse from his stall to the bay of the 
barn, slung him, and rested his limbs. I gave the horse a cathartic, 
dressed each of the wounds of the hock with the tincture ferri, placed 
a small piece of cotton on each wound, and enveloped the whole joint 
with blister ointment. The next day I continued the ligation of the 
protuberance, and dressed the balance of the wounds with tincture of 
iodine, and as soon as the dressing had dried, dressed with digestive 
ointment. On the 7th, went out and dressed the horse again, renewing 
the blisters on the off hock, and found the animal full as strong, stand¬ 
ing well in the slings, and the appetite improved. The 9th and 11th I 
visited the animal, washing off the blister and re-applying it. On each 
day that I did not see the horse, Mr. Doyle washed and greased the 
hock, applying the tincture ferri to the wounds, I next saw him on the 
15th, blistered him again, and I began to feel confident I could save 
him. I had got the slough off the near leg, and the wound was heal¬ 
ing ; I did not use iodine continuously, I sometimes dressed the near 
leg with white mixture, R. h ounce zinci sulph., 1 ounce of plumb 
