478 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Dec., 1898. 
NITROGEN FROM THE AIR. 
Ir is stated that by some new chemical process nitrogen, in the form of 
sulphate of ammonia, is now obtained artificially from the air. The cost is put 
at $20 (£4) per-ton, and in addition a by-product is obtained which will have 
a great effect on gas manufacture. If that be so, then a great boon will 
have been conferred on acriculturists, but until actual facts are to hand it 
will be well to suspend judgment. 
A NEW VETERINARY OPERATION. 
Mr. Deans, M.R.C.V.S. London, stated lately at a meeting of the Lancashire 
Veterinary Medical Association that he had operated upon hundred of cases 
of bog spavin, thoroughpin, and similar enlargements of the stifle joint, not 
only without any bad results but in a manner which enabled a horse to 
compete in the show ring, no enlargement remaining, nor any blemish which 
can be detected by experts. 
The enlargements are due to a dropsical condition of the capsules, or 
capsular ligaments which surround the joints and contain the synovia 
commonly known as joint oil. 
From strain or hereditary defect, these capsules secrete too great a 
quantity of fluid, and that not of the nature and quality demanded. 
Oii this subject, the Hurmer and Stockbreeder says :— The opening of a 
joint has always, and rightly, been regarded as so serious a matter that curative 
treatment by evacuation of its contents has not, until recently, received the 
sanction of professors of veterinary surgery.” 
Mr. Deans has now operated upon a great number, he states, successfully, 
by employing an aspirator which withdraws the superfluous fluid without the 
admission of air, and then he proceeds to inject a powerful irritant in the form 
of perchloride of mercury (corrosive sublimate) and iodine, with spirits of 
wine. 
Professor McCall, himself a Clydesdale breeder, gave his experience of 
the treatment advocated by his former pupil (Mr. Deans), and tried by him 
upon three cases. One was entirely successful, the second conferred no 
benefit whatever, the third for twenty-four hours suffered the most excru- 
ciating pain, lay down, got up frequently, breathed hurriedly, and perspired 
profusely, In a fortnight he could use the limb, and what a blessing, for the 
other hind limb, from so long carrying the entiré weight, had failed him. On 
the following Saturday he presented a sorry picture of his former self, having 
lost his middle piece, and unable to do more than crawl along at a snail’s pace, 
with his hind limbs ; and worse than all, the stifle joint was larger than ever. 
He also walked on the point of the toe on the limb operated on, and did not 
allow the heels of the shoe to touch the ground. 
How this case may finally terminate, no one can say, “but,” adds the 
Be “he is my property, and I shall be pleased to let you know the 
result.” 
The old plan of treatment was to apply pressure by means of a truss where 
applicable (it is not possible at the stifle joint) or by plaster or “charge.” In 
addition to these means it is found that repeated blisters thicken the skin, 
reduce its elasticity, and so form more or less of a permanent compress or 
bandage. Many cases in young animals get well without any treatment at all, 
and by far the greater number recover sufficiently to work sound if a stiff pitch 
plaster, with a.small proportion of Snizish fly in it, is put on warm and 
allowed to remain until, by the new gruwth of hair, it eventually falls off. 
These enlargements are one of the commonest defects of the Clydesdale, 
whose conformation lends itself to bog spavin, thoroughpin, &c., so many of 
the breed having straight hind legs. No matter how good a family a horse 
may belong to, he should not be used for stud if he has this defect, which will 
almost surely be handed down to his progeny. 
