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tional breeching and breast-girth attached to the rings upon the sides of the belly-cloth, will be found to contribute much to the comfort as well as security of the animal. The padded strap or web, carried over the hind part of the neck, will prove serviceable in preventing the breast-girths from slipping down.

CONSTITUTIONAL TREATMENT.-That must be regulated by the degree of fever present or likely to supervene, and the age, strength, and condition of our patient. We should lose no time in administering purgative medicine; because, under circumstances of rest, it will take probably thirty hours before it come into operation. And as for bleeding and other constitutional remedies, they must be conducted according to the necessities of the case, on the principles already laid down for the treatment of sympathetic fever.

A NEW MODE OF TREATMENT.-Mr. Thos. Turner, V.S., Croydon, has put us in possession of a plan for treating the more formidable cases of open joint, and in particular the knee, which I myself have put to the test, and can confidently recommend to the notice of my readers, as a means of saving many a valuable life that would otherwise probably be inevitably lost to us; for it is a plan that may be put in practice, with even a good prospect of success, in cases which, but for it, would be consigned to a pistol-shot.

To shew the improvement that has been made even in this department of our art, we have only to quote a passage out of James Clark, Farrier to His Majesty for Scotland, in 1782; the acknowledged best practical writer of his day:-"When the capsular ligament of any joint is perforated or cut through, there is but little chance of a complete cure being effected, so as the horse may be useful for the saddle or carriage."--Clark's Observations on Shoeing.

The particulars of Mr. Turner's method of procedure are contained in a paper read to the Veterinary Society, in 1829, and since published in the second volume of "The Veterinarian," from which I shall here take the liberty to extract them.

In cases of puncture, and wounds of similar description, into the joint, Mr. Turner is satisfied with the efficacy of the actual cautery; but in cases in which there is an opening into the joint of large dimensions, and, at the same time, a large external wound, he abandons the cautery for his own mode

of treatment. He rests his prospects of success on being called "within a reasonable time after the accident, and before injections of any kind have been forced into the joint."-" Having washed the external wound of the knee with a sponge and luke-warm water, a silver probe may be gently introduced for the purpose of removing any particles of dirt or gravel within the wound. A paste is then to be prepared, composed of wheaten flour and table-beer only, which are to be well stirred together cold, and afterwards boiled for about five minutes, until the paste becomes of the consistence commonly used by paper-hangers. It may be then coloured by a small quantity of bole armenian, and applied moderately warm to the knee; being spread with a spatula as thick as it will lie, not only on the wound, but all round the joint, and for some space up the arm, as well as about four inches below the knee on the cannon. A very thin light pledget of tow, sufficiently extended to encompass the knee, is to be applied, in front of the joint, upon the paste; then nearly half a sheet of stout brown paper in a similar manner, and a large cotton stocking, with the foot off, drawn well up over the whole. On the outside of the stocking another thin layer of the paste is to be applied, and a calico bandage, six yards in length and from four to five inches wide, is to be rolled round the part with very moderate but regular pressure; another six-yard roller, of the same description, is then to be applied, but with a less degree of pressure.

"A moderate quantity of blood should be drawn from the neck, according to the age and condition of the patient, and a small dose of aloes should be administered, as much as would be expected to render the fæces pultaceous, but without purgation." The horse should be slung in the manner I have recommended. A cart-horse breeching, with any other suitable tackle that may be found on the spot, will, by management and ingenuity, generally prove very serviceable in effecting this. The part of the treatment on which Mr. Turner chiefly relies for accomplishing his end, is, "Never to remove the dressing just described until the joint has closed, and the synovia ceased to flow."—" By the second or third day the bandage becomes hard, dry, and as harsh as a board, owing to the heat of the inflamed limb having completely dried the paste. There is then usually a considerable tumefaction both above and below the bandage. The animal evinces much pain; his respiration is hurried, his pulse quick, and, perhaps, the appetite impaired. But the time is now arrived at which ease may be afforded the patient, without in the least obstructing the process of cure. This resource consists in making four longitudinal incisions through every layer of the bandage, a notch above and below on each side, and leaving the bandage entire both before and behind. The relaxation from pressure, by the length of these notches or incisions, must be as limited as the urgency of the symptoms will allow; but in every case I make it a rule to afford this relief in some degree. From this period the constitutional disturbance comparatively ceases, the appetite returns, and respiration is tranquilized, although

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the pulse may remain quick. But now we are possessed of a substitute for the injured capsular ligament,-a compress, closely adhering and encompassing the joint, of the exact shape of the joint, which never varies its position, is as hard as a tanned hide, and yet flexible.

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If by the sixth or seventh day, owing to the large size of the aperture in the capsule, the compression has not had the effect of closing the joint, and there should be found a considerable lodgement of fluid (a mixture of pus and synovia) in a depending part of the compress, another incision must be made in the compress to give exit to this fluid, beginning in the front at the inferior part, and continuing it upwards, but no higher than necessary.

"It is in this stage of a bad case that great nicety of treatment is required, and we are not to be at all disheartened if the joint be not closed; for there will be found a coagulum filling up the mouth of the wound, and extending to the orifice of the capsular ligament, though scarcely sufficient to close it. The nicety I allude to consists in taking care not to remove or disturb this clot or plug; for it is this coagulum, when sufficiently organized, that becomes as it were the cork to the bottle. This is the material point on which the success of the case depends, and which differs from the ordinary mode of treatment, it being customary to remove the bandage every day, or every second day, in order to give the inflamed parts the benefit of warm fomentations, and cleansing the wound, as it is called, which, in reality, is the greatest act of violence that an opened joint can receive in the shape of curative treatment; and just as often as it is repeated, are the efforts of nature opposed by the removal of this jelly-like substance.

"The next thing to be done is to spread another dressing of the adhesive paste over the outside of the compress, and to apply another six-yard calico roller with gentle pressure upon it. In this stage of the case, regular pressure will be found rather to diminish than increase irritation, but there is some skill required even in the simple act of applying a roller to an inflamed part. This last bandage should remain undisturbed as long as possible, with the expectation that, by the next time the fluid is evacuated from the compress, the capsular ligament may be found closed, and the discharge of synovia ceased; but whether so or not, the same treatment should be continued.

"There is one curious circumstance that not unfrequently attends the process of cure by this treatment, and which I hail as a good omen, but which many writers have remarked upon as indicative of the total destruction of the joint. I allude to an eruption and discharge from another part of the joint, perhaps the back of the knee, and which they describe as the bursting of an abscess within the joint. I merely mention this fact to shew that these eruptions do not always communicate with the joint, and that I do not make a practice of indulging my curiosity by introducing a probe to ascertain that point, although a fluid may be escaping looking more like synovia than pus.

"The treatment here recommended is strictly mechanical, as far as relates to closing the joint: it consists in a surgical operation, conducted on the same principle as the setting of a fractured bone; and I have but little recourse to medicine, from a firm conviction that Nature's restorative powers are fully adequate to the task.

"The swollen parts above and below the bandage may be rubbed two or three times a-day with some discutient evaporating lotion, taking especial care that the part above the compress may not be left so wet as for the lotion to descend and trickle uuder the bandage.

"However well the case may go on, I usually confine the horse to the sling until I am satisfied that the joint has remained closed about a week. He may then be turned loose in a box for a few hours every day, but must return to his sling at night, until the joint appears to have regained sufficient strength. The original compress may now be cut off; and the limb should be lathered with warm bran water, soap, and flannel, every day, from elbow to hoof. The wound dressed with a plaster of digestive or mild tincture, and a single six-yard calico roller continued with only comfortable pressure.

"The granulations which may rise above the level of the skin will, of course, require to be subdued by the usual means; and when the wound has completely healed, the knee may or may not require a common blister.

"I deem it requisite to observe, that some cases of opened knee-joints are so appalling, not only from the magnitude of the external wound, but likewise from the aperture in the capsular ligament being equally extensive, that if I were called in, even at the moment of the accident, I might despair of success by this or any other mode of treatment. But the case in which I least hesitate to condemn the unfortunate subject, is the opened joint, accompanied with a complete division of both the extensor tendons, the animal being thereby deprived of the power of extending his foot; and such a complicated case is not an uncommon occurrence."

ANOTHER NOVELTY IN THE TREATMENT.-Mr. Dawson, V.S., London, has offered to our notice and trial a dressing for opened joints, which, he informs us, he has used with such success as to make him "sanguine of effecting a cure in cases in which, before, he considered a cure almost impossible." I have used it in two cases of punctured joints, and both recovered: for which cases I should apprehend it is better adapted than for such as would call for the more elaborate but truly admirable plan of Mr. Thomas Turner's.

Mr. Dawson's mode of procedure is as follows:-after observing that the grand object of cure consists in closing the joint, and remarking that the

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means ordinarily employed for this purpose are "those that promote and keep up inflammation," Mr. Dawson says, "it is my uniform practice to remove by scalpel every part, whether sinew, ligament, skin, or what not, that Nature herself would remove by the sloughing process. I then foment, say for half an hour, for the purpose of cleansing the wound, as well as encouraging the discharge of as much blood as can be by that means obtained; after this I dress simply, and bind the joint by a flannel bandage of some yards in length. This dressing I repeat daily, till synovia appears, when I discontinue fomentations, and use a saturated solution of corrosive sublimate in spirits of wine; or a lotion made by first dissolving the salt in muriatic acid, in the proportion of two drachms of the former to four drachms of the latter, and one pound of water. This dressing may be used twice aday, until synovia has ceased flowing; after which the wound may be treated in the ordinary way. In a few instances, the foregoing liquids will not be sufficiently strong of the corrosive sublimate to coagulate the synovia as it issues from the joint; you may then use the sublimate in the form of a fine powder, either mixed with some description of farina, or even alone, taking care that it does not find its way into the joint, and as much as possible applying it only to soft parts, and in a manner avoiding every thing but the coagulated synovia which will be found about the opening through which the liquid flows. In punctured wounds of joints, the introduction of the powdered sublimate a little way into the opening is the best way of applying it. As a matter of course, I bleed and give physic," &c.—Veterinarian, vol. iii, pp. 497, 498.

OTHER OPENED JOINTS need not occasion us any difficulty or embarrassment, after having entered so fully into the case of broken knee. It is but seldom that cases of this kind occur, and when they do they commonly consist in punctures from thorns or stubs, stabs from pitchforks, scissars, knives, &c.; circumstances that render them, generally speaking, of a much more manageable nature than contused and lacerated kneejoints. The hock, the fetlock, the shoulder, the stifle, come occasionally under our notice: but their cases present nothing but what any veterinarian acquainted with the principles on which opened joints, generally, should be treated, cannot fail, after a little practice, to apply with equal judgment and discrimination.