However, never turn animals afflicted with fistulous withers or with poll evil out to grass. In the last disease, the motion of the head, the outstretching of the neck, and movement of the jaws occasion agony; and in the first instance, the necessity for perpetual action entails so much misery as soon renders the life worthless. The horse which is not worth the best of food in the best of stables, should not be doomed to a life of starvation and of torture. It is the shame of society that rich men are tempted by a few pounds to dispose of the creature which has been maimed in their service. Wounds endured when obeying the wishes of the master should endear the slave unto his lord. In the case of the willing steed, the law is reversed. The owner blemishes; and instead of nursing the wounded life, he disposes of it. The injured animal is sold to the first purchaser for so much as the damaged article will fetch.

FISTULOUS PAROTID DUCT.

This is a most serious evil, rather than a quickly-killing disease. The animal which is thus afflicted may endure for years; but each meal consumed and each day survived rates as a period of misery. When it is considered how much the happiness of the lower order of beings depends on merely feeding and living, it will be at once apparent how much the horse has lost when all enjoyment has departed from eating; when mere existence is embittered by being a prolongation of the suffering. The digestion becomes deranged, because the saliva, or a valuable secretion imperative to the proper performance of the function, is absent; while every movement is a pain occasioned by the agony of a diseased stomach and the anguish attendant upon a fistulous sore. The wretched creature, in this condition, speedily becomes an object of disgust to the most humane master; and, according to the convenient morality of modern times, is therefore sold to the highest bidder. Purchased only for the work which remains in the carcass, a fearful doom lies before the sick and debilitated quadruped. It rapidly sinks lower and lower, at each stage of its descent the food growing more scanty as the labor becomes more exhausting.

The parotid duct is the tube by which the saliva secreted by the gland is, during the act of mastication, conveyed into the mouth and mingled with the food. The parotid gland lies at the spot where the neck joins the jaw; within the interior of that body numerous fine hollow vessels connect and unite. These at each junction become larger and fewer in number, till at length they all terminate in one channel, which is the duct immediately about to be considered. It leaves the gland and travels for some space upon the inner side of the jaw; after which it curls under the inferior border of the bone and runs in front of the large masseter muscle of the horse's cheek.

Its injury is frequently occasioned by hay-seeds or particles of food, during the process of comminution, entering the open mouth of the duct; these, subsequently becoming swollen, prevent the free egress of the saliva. The secretion, nevertheless, goes forward and accumulates within the tube, which it greatly distends. A confined secretion produces the most exquisite agony. The motion of the jaw stimulates the gland to pour forth its fluid; thus every mouthful which the animal is forced to eat not only is the cause of suffering, but likewise occasions additional pressure to a channel already enlarged to bursting, and which at length bursts.

Another provocative is calculus, or stone, which is sometimes taken from the cheeks of horses, they being of enormous comparative magnitude; the natural tube would not admit a pea. Concretions have been removed from this narrow passage as large as a pullet's egg. Such an obstacle not only impedes the flow of saliva, but produces additional anguish by the distention it occasions, and by the hinderance so hard a substance offers to every motion of the animal jaw during the necessary period of mastication.

Every puncture made into the substance of the duct, and every rupture of the canal, speedily becomes fistulous sores. The saliva constantly pours through the opening thus instituted; the healing process is thereby prevented, and the edges of the wound rapidly become callous. It is, however, painful to be obliged to state that the stable fork, in the hand of an intemperate groom, is the instrument by which these punctures are too frequently occasioned.

Gentlemen when engaging people to attend upon their animals should always be very particular concerning temper. An irritable person, however smart he may appear, is obviously disqualified for such an occupation. A man of an evil temper should never be engaged. Still, the great majority of present grooms are rather conspicuous for an exuberance of conceit, than remarkable for any openness of countenance. Smartness may gratify the pride of the master; but it is difficult to comprehend in what manner it possibly can benefit his horse.

There is an old proverb which, being "the condensed wisdom of ages," teaches that "the master's eye fattens the steed." Most of modern masters dislike nothing so much as trouble. The stable is given over to the servant. No Eastern despot is so absolute as the groom in his dominions: he kicks and abuses its inhabitants at his pleasure. If the free exercise of his will occasions injury, a lie is easily invented and readily believed by the lazy superior. All that comes into or passes out of the building pays toll to the invested ruler. Five per cent. is levied upon the hay and corn merchant; the dung is sold as a legitimate perquisite; the bills of the harness and the coach makers are taxed one shilling in the pound by the most ignorant groom, and often much higher by the properly initiated. Thus the idle man pays dearly for his ease. There is no luxury so expensive as a want of wholesome energy.

The process of mastication causes the saliva to be secreted. At each motion of the jaw it is squirted forth with violence; every drop of the fluid passes through the false opening—no portion finds its way into the mouth. The running of the stream down the cheek wears away the hair, while the absence of a valuable constituent toward perfect digestion occasions the diet not to nourish the body. The animal loses flesh, and quickly assumes a miserable appearance, which makes the proprietor long to rid his sight of so pitiable an object.

The cure for this disease was aptly illustrated by Mr. Gowing, the excellent veterinary surgeon of Camden Town. That gentleman made an adhesive fluid, by either saturating the strongest spirit of wine with gum mastic, or dissolving India-rubber in sulphuric ether. Then, when the horse was not eating, he pared off the hardened edges of the wound till blood issued therefrom. He subsequently allowed the bleeding to stop, and placed over the orifice a piece of strained India-rubber. Over that he put a thin layer of cotton; fastened one end of the cotton to the hair of the cheek by means of the adhesive preparation. That being dry, he tightened the cotton and glued down the opposite extremity. Next he attached another layer of cotton, and subsequently another. Afterward he fastened more cotton, some of it crossways; and, having added as many layers as would make a good body, saturates the whole with the adhesive solution before alluded to.

The hair affords a good ground to which any other substance can be fastened; but it is rendered better by being thoroughly washed with soft soap and warm water. The ablution deprives the skin of the horse of its naturally unctuous secretion, and permits the adhesive application a better chance.

The horse should be allowed no food which necessitates mastication. The head should be fastened to the pillar-reins during the process of cure. Thin gruel only should be presented while treatment is progressing, and that should be continued until the covering falls off. Should the wound not be healed, allow a couple of days to elapse; but give no solid food. Permit the horse to rest on refuse tan—not straw, which might be eaten—during all this time. Afterward renew the attempt, and repeat it again if necessary—though the first trial generally succeeds.

Before concluding, it may be well to arm the reader against those practices generally adopted by horse doctors. These practices consist in the use of the red-hot budding iron, which is among them a very popular application to a fistulous parotid duct. The theory which induces this resort is, a belief that the heated iron induces an eschar, and the wound closes before the crust falls off. Red-hot iron is, however, far more disposed to destroy substance than to favor growth; and, probably, its curative properties could have gained faith among no other class. Possibly there exists no other body which would credit that, to burn a hole larger, was the best way to close it. Another artifice is to inject caustic lotions up the duct, and thereby occasion the gland to slough out. Against such cruelty the author is pleased to think little need be said. The operation, when successful, causes so much irritation as endangers the life; for the body of the gland is permeated by so many and such important vessels as render the termination always very dubious.

PHLEBITIS, OR INFLAMMATION OF THE VEIN.

Formerly it was the custom to bleed horses for everything and for nothing. It was not even suspected that a creature which exists only to labor unto the limit of possibility is far more likely to be the victim of debility than of repletion. It never occurred to any master that his wretched animal wanted blood putting into it rather than abstracting the smallest quantity of blood from it. However, formerly bleeding was a favorite resort with the apothecary, and the old veterinary surgeon seems to have followed the bad example. Aged people have informed the writer that they remember the time when, on a Sunday morning, a long shed was filled with agricultural horses standing in a row. These victims were all waiting to be bled. The veterinary surgeon's assistant used to take the fleam, and to open a vein in the first animal's neck. Then he would proceed to the second; and thus, in turn, he would open the jugulars of the entire number. No account was taken of the quantity of blood lost; that flowed forth till the last had been operated upon, when all the creatures stood simultaneously draining forth their lives.

The veterinary surgeon's assistant subsequently returned, and pinned up the orifice of the first horse; then he went and performed that office for the succeeding animal. Thus he, a second time, progressed down the row, pinning up as he proceeded; and the poor horses often tottered before he came. All this was done for a human fancy: man thought the loss of blood, at spring and autumn, beneficial to all kinds of life. The writer has heard of old ladies who were very skillful in bleeding cats. Most cats, however, resist such an application of medical talent; not so the horse: this animal submits itself patiently to the master's will. The creature seems to recognize that it has no right to exist except by the permission of its owner. There is no living being which acknowledges so abject a dependence.

In return it is made a sport of the idlest whims. Hence horses, after bleeding, were all thought to be much benefited. They were expected to perform greater labor and to continue in sounder health. In vain did the disease visit the stable more frequently; to no purpose was diminished capability displayed. The ungrateful bodies of the "plaguy beasts" were blamed, which would go wrong even after mortal science had expended its wealth upon them. Man never doubted his own wisdom; he never questioned his own conduct; and it is astonishing the quantity of prejudice which is from year to year perpetuated for the want of a small amount of so cheap an article as mental inquiry.

The worst of the evil still remains to be told. The creatures, being bled, were esteemed so greatly benefited as to require no subsequent attention. Phlebitis was consequently, in other days, a rather common affection. If neglected, the disease may terminate in death. In cases aggravated by mistaken measures, the disorder mounts to the brain, and occasions awful agonies. Taken early and properly administered to, this disposition is easily arrested. It was formerly wrongly treated, and was traced to an erroneous origin. Phlebitis was, to the perfect satisfaction of learned judges seated on the bench, attributed to the surgeon's want of care. So serious an evil was imagined to be caused by culpable neglect during a trivial operation. It was thought to have been provoked by the use of a foul instrument, or by employing anything else to strike a fleam than a properly-made blood-stick.

Experiments, however, which were instituted at the Royal Veterinary College, have proved that no want of care, during the performance of bleeding, can provoke the disorder. Wretched horses, in that establishment, have been punctured with dirty, rusty, blunt, and jagged fleams; all manner of blood-sticks have been employed in every description of way. These have been struck violently and tapped in the gentlest fashion. Every possible sort of pinning up has been adopted; but the utmost endeavor of intentional perversion could not produce inflammation of the vein. There appears to be only one ascertained cause: that is, bleed; do not tie up the head, but turn it into a field, or present fodder to be eaten off the ground, and the animal will have phlebitis. The pendulous position of the head and the motion of the jaws alone seem capable of starting inflammation in the jugular vein. Therefore, should the reader ever permit a horse to be bled—which, save in extreme cases, is perfectly unnecessary—let him remember to place the animal subsequently in the stable, to tie the halter to the rack for twenty-four hours, and, during the same space, to abstain from allowing any food. These injunctions, however, do not refer to the bleedings sometimes adopted to counteract acute disease.

There is one circumstance which should always be well considered before any horse is bled: Certain animals have a constitutional predisposition toward this peculiar form of disease. The horse whose vein shall inflame no man can, by sign, mark, or investigation, pick from a herd. It is, however, an ascertained fact that particular animals, of no fixed breed, and apparently characterized by no recognized state of body, have a mighty tendency to exhibit this particular disorder. The horse may appear unexceptionable as regards health; but, nevertheless, strike it with a fleam or puncture it with a lancet, and phlebitis will undoubtedly be generated; none of the usual precautions can always prevent the misfortune. Such predisposition evidently depends on a determinate condition of system which science has hitherto failed to recognize.

This fact, or eccentricity in the constitutions of isolated horses, ought to be generally known. Men have recovered heavy damages in courts of law, and blameless veterinary surgeons have been ruined, by circumstances over which the utmost stretch of human precaution could possibly exercise no control. However, a more extended knowledge concerning the real origin of this disorder may do some good, since it will guard juries from delivering wrongful verdicts, and may tend to check that love of venous depletion which is still too prevalent with ignorant horse owners.

There was formerly a great diversity of opinion concerning a supposed eccentricity in the facts observed during this disease. If a horse was bled in the neck, and subsequently exhibited phlebitis, the brain became affected. If an animal was depleted from the fore leg, and displayed the disease, the heart became involved. In one case, the disorder proceeded from the center of circulation; and in the other, it mounted directly toward the organ. A great many hypotheses were published to explain or to account for this imaginary peculiarity. Much nonsense was spoken, and more was written, to point out the real cause of an imaginary difference. Yet, calmly viewed, the seeming diversity appears to agree with the commonest law of nature. Phlebitis always closes the vessel at the seat of injury. The disease, therefore, in each case, is prevented from descending, and consequently ascends above the orifice—the only peculiarity being the relative situations of the structures involved.

This affection is most common after blood has been taken from the neck. That seeming preference for a particular part may, however, be nothing more than a circumstance dependent upon the greater number of animals which have their jugulars opened. Were the brachial or the saphena veins punctured as frequently as the vessel which carries the blood from the brain, the apparent difference might appear in the opposite direction. However, from whichever vessel the depletion is effected, always tie the quadruped's head up, and present no food. A stall is to be preferred to a loose box, as the confined space is more likely to prevent action. Motion is the source of all danger. This fact was aptly illustrated by an anecdote which used to be related by the late Mr. Liston, the eminent surgeon. In his lecture, that gentleman surprised his class by stating that the last person whom he bled perished of phlebitis. Bleeding is the most simple operation in human surgery. Most surgeons leave this office to the apothecary; consequently it was rather a condescension in one who deservedly ranked so high in his profession to stoop to such an act. What, therefore, could possibly cause disease to follow the operation, when performed by him who was accustomed to surgery upon its grandest scale?

The cause was soon explained. The person operated upon chanced to be a lunatic. This insane individual embraced the notion that the healing process was much favored by constant motion; consequently he kept on flexing and extending his arm with all the violence which is natural to the demented. In vain was every effort made to persuade him from so mad an action. He clung with extraordinary pertinacity to his unwholesome theory. On the following day, Mr. Liston was surprised to find his patient in bed, but still moving the arm in which disease had already declared itself. Measures were taken to keep the limb quiet, but it was found impossible to accomplish this in a satisfactory manner; and when Mr. Liston again called, the patient was no more!

A vein being about to inflame, the earliest intimation of the fact is given by the separation of the lips of the wound, while through the opening drains a small quantity of a thin discharge. Should this warning excite no attention, a round and hard swelling appears. That may be like a hazel-nut in size, or it may resemble half a chestnut in magnitude; and this is soon followed by a swollen state of the vein superior to the orifice.

Then supervenes the second stage of the disorder. Unhealthy abscesses are formed along the course of the vein. As these mature, they burst, and send forth an unsightly and filthy liquid resembling thin, contaminated pus. On examination, these tumors are found to be united. They penetrate to the interior of the vessel, and are joined together by numerous sinuses. They literally constitute so many holes in the neck.

If no attention be now paid to the aggravated symptoms, worse speedily ensues. In the direction formerly indicated the vessel feels hard under the skin. Supposing this sign to be neglected, unhealthy pus issues in quantity from the wounds and soils the neck. This secretion is soon converted into a dark, impure, and fetid discharge resembling decayed blood. The horse grows dull and stupid; the inflammation ultimately affects the brain, when the suffering and the life are extinguished in the violent agonies of phrenitis.

The cure is easy, but everything depends upon the energy of him who undertakes it. When the lips of the wound which have been brought together by means of the twisted suture—as the "pin with tow wrapped round it" is professionally termed—display a tendency to separate, and, instead of being dry, appear moist, let no prejudice incline toward the ancient practice of fomenting and poulticing the injury. Without the loss of a moment in hesitation, withdraw the pin; remove the substance which was twined round it, and apply a moderate-sized blister immediately over and around the puncture. Should the disease have ascended up the neck, still rub in a blister; only a proportionate amount of surface must then be acted upon. If the case be as bad as possible, and yet the animal is alive, still a blister is indicated.

With the progress of the disease a larger space should always be subjected to irritation, so as to cover every part the most active imagination could suppose to be involved. One blister, moreover, will not suffice; another, and another, and another must be employed, till every sign of disorder has vanished. They must, however, be applied in quicker succession as the symptoms are more urgent, while a greater interval may be allowed between each when the affection is less serious. In the worst stage of phlebitis, another blister must be put over the part upon which the irritation of the first has not entirely ceased to act. In the second stage, the surface must have been barely healed before another vesicatory is resorted to. During the primary symptom, a single application frequently is sufficient; or, at most, two blisters generally suffice.

When the vessel assumes the corded state, a blister can effect no more than to check the progress of the disorder; no agency, however, which science has placed at the disposal of man can restore the uses of the vein. The vessel is lost, and lost forever. If a foul and black discharge issue from the openings, insert a director and enlarge the wounds, joining the holes by slitting up the sinuses which unite them; but do not cut the entire extent of the hardened vessel, as in that case you may be deluged in blood. The employment of the knife and the free use of blisters constitute the chief means toward the cure of phlebitis. The sinuses must be laid open. The probe should then be most patiently employed, for every sinus must be slit up. This may be done at once, when the hardness indicates the vessel to be closed above the part which the incision interferes with. To such an extent the knife may always be employed, while blisters after blisters are used, regardless of the severe wounds over which they are applied.

Much relief is afforded by the large and pendulous incision, through which the corruption freely finds an exit. Some horses, however, from the pain occasioned by the raw and inflamed condition of the neck, will not allow the blister to be rubbed in after the ordinary fashion, especially when the irritation caused by the former application has not thoroughly subsided. In cases of this sort, do not employ the twitch or resort to greater restraints. Exercise your reason. Regard the painful aspect of the wounds. Ask yourself how you should enjoy the hard hand of a groom violently scrubbed over such a part, were the soreness upon your own body. Act upon the response. Procure a long-haired brush, such as pastry-cooks use to egg over their more delicate manufactures. Go then into the next stall. Speak kindly to a sick inferior that is at your mercy. Have the creature led forth, and, with the brush just described, smear the part with oil of cantharides or liquid blister. The extract of the Spanish fly does not occasion immediate agony, and the application of oil will cool or soothe the anger of the wounds.

With the jugular vein inflamed, the horse, during the period of treatment, should consume no solid food. Hay tea, sloppy mashes, and well-made gruel should constitute its diet. However, the gruel must not be given in such quantities or made so thick as the same substance would be allowed to a healthy horse. Gruel may not be very sustaining to the human being, but it is nothing more than the oat divested of the shell or refuse part. To the equine species such food, whether given dry or boiled in water, is highly stimulating; and, as fever invariably accompanies inflammation, oats in any form evidently are contraindicated. Should the animal, however, become ravenous, a portion of potatoes, being first peeled, may be boiled to a mash. Some water and a sufficiency of pollard ought to be added, and the whole presented in such a state as requires no mastication, but in a condition that will allow the mixture to be drawn between the teeth. The same thing may be done with carrots and with turnips, only all mashed roots, except potatoes, should be passed through a colander, and moistened with some of the water in which they are boiled.

Any animal, during treatment, should be placed in a loose box. No creature should be turned into the field. It is cheaper to pasture than to stable a horse; but the constant motion of the legs, as the field is traversed, is injurious to the punctured vein of the limbs, while the pendulous state of the head and the perpetual movement of the jaws are most prejudicial when venesection has been performed upon the neck. The stable is, in every point of view, the cheapest and the best residence. The head of the animal must be tied to the rack throughout the day; while, at night, the halter may be lengthened, permitting the creature to lie down; but the floor should be littered with tan, as straw might be eaten.

Let the horse remain thus for six weeks subsequent to the completion of a cure. Then give gentle exercise to the extent which it can be borne—the quantity being small, and the pace very slow at first, but gradually augmented. This exercise should be maintained for three months. The animal may afterward return to slow work; but if the neck is the place affected, it must not wear a collar or be harnessed to the shafts for the next six months. At the end of that time the horse may return to its customary employment; but, if ridden or driven, it is always well to bear in mind the late affliction, and to grant more than the usual time for the performance of the journey. At the expiration of the year, the smaller veins, having become enlarged, have adapted themselves to the loss which the circulation has sustained, and the horse may resume full work.

For the first year, gruel, crushed and scalded oats, with two bundles of cut grass per day, should constitute the diet. The manger should be heightened, and the halter be so arranged as to prevent the head being much lowered. Do all in your power to render useless violent mastication; and, as the horse never chews when the operation is unnecessary, the animal will obviously second your endeavors.

At the expiration of twelve months the animal which has lost a vein may be sold, and, in law, has been accounted sound. Such a blemish, however, is far from a recommendation; in this case law and common sense may be at variance. The reader, therefore, is advised never to purchase a nag in such a condition without insisting upon a special warranty, in which it is provided that the animal is to be taken back should the loss of a vessel be productive of any evil effects within the space of one twelvemonth.

BROKEN KNEES.

These accidents affect the exterior of the central joint of the fore legs. They may be very trivial or very serious: they may simply ruffle the hair or scratch the cuticle covering the integument; the same cause may, however, remove the hair and lay bare the cutis. Moreover, the wound is often aggravated by the nature of the road on which the animal is traveling. A fall upon a very rough surface might even destroy a portion of the skin, and deprive more or less of the cellular tissue of vitality.

BROKEN KNEES OF VARIOUS DEGREES OF INTENSITY.

Accompanying such accidents there is generally some amount of contusion. When it falls, the horse is in motion, and the impetus lends violence to the descent. Probably the animal is being ridden when it comes to the ground. The weight of the blow is not only then proportioned to the heavy body of the horse and the rate at which it is progressing, but its effect is augmented by the load upon its back. These considerations render broken knees the proper dread of every horse proprietor. An animal may stumble and come down which, prior to the mishap, would have been sold cheap for several hundreds. It may be raised from the ground with almost all its worth demolished. The nature of the hurt is not, however, always shown at first. The chief danger, in broken knees, lies in the accompanying contusion. The horse which rises without a hair ruffled, but which fell with violence, is always, with informed persons, a cause of considerable anxiety. Contusion is to be more dreaded in its consequences than is the largest wound when devoid of anything approaching to a bruise.

The reason why contusion is thus gravely regarded is because, when that occurs in severity, the vitality of all the coverings to the knee is destroyed, and, in very bad cases, even the bones are materially injured. All dead parts must be cast from a living body; and no man can predicate how deep may be the injury, or how important may be the structures which shall be opened, when the slough takes place.

Proprietors of horses thus injured are commonly very earnest in their solicitations for a professional opinion as to the extent and probable consequences of the accident. No certain judgment can, however, be pronounced, nor should one be given. Any surgical calculation, notwithstanding it may be most prudently qualified, is apt to be misconstrued by the anxiety of distress. The most guarded hint at a probability of recovery is too likely to be seized upon as a positive guarantee of perfect restoration; and the possible evils which may have been alluded to, confusion causes the individual not to remember. Therefore silence is wisdom in these cases, however slight the broken knee may appear in the first instance.

Broken knees are principally caused by the imprudence of him in whom authority is invested. Certain people imagine the public admire the man who chastises a horse. Such persons slash away for every trivial error. Every imaginary fault is punished with the whip, which too often curls around parts that should be respected. The animal, pained and frightened, thinks only of the slasher behind it, and entirely disregards the path upon which its eyes should be directed. The cutting is incessant, and the horse's pace is incautiously fast. An impediment is encountered; the animal trips; it is cast to the ground with violence, while the man is probably rendered fitter for a hospital than for the continuance of his travels.

Other riders and drivers always visit with severity the slightest indication of weak limbs. A sudden drop or a false step is, to such people, the signal for the reins to be jagged, the voice to be raised, and the whip to be freely exercised upon all parts of the animal's body, but mostly about the face and ears. The man likes to behold the poor creature shake its head, and loves to imagine he is then teaching the terrified quadruped to be careful. Equine pupils, no more than human scholars, are to be tutored by barbarity, which may slay the reason long before it can instruct the mind. Composure is imperative to the acquirement of any knowledge. Thrashing calls forth terror, and alarm is synonymous with confusion of mind. The horse is susceptible of a fear which humanity, happily, finds it difficult to conceive; and how far such a creature is calculated to be educated by cruelty, the intelligent reader is left to infer.

Could the animal argue, it might plead that the weakness objected to was caused by exertion made in man's service; that the stumbling gait was consequent upon no negligence on its part; that it afforded the beaten wretch no pleasure to have the knees broken, but, if the quadruped might profess a choice, it would prefer not falling down, etc. etc. If such pleas were properly considered, they perhaps might still the turbulence of the punisher.

The great majority of these injuries are consequent upon the prejudice or thoughtlessness of mankind. Popular admiration is, in this country, much in favor of a good crest. Every animal, no matter how nature may have formed the neck, must carry a good head. The rider, therefore, drags upon the bridle, while the form of nearly every gentleman's harness-horse is distorted by the bearing-rein. The constraint thus enforced not only obliges additional muscular action, but it disqualifies the animal to see the ground. In England there should be no objection to a blind horse, since such of the species as have eyes are, by the prejudices of society, seldom permitted to use them. The horse, being urged on when virtually blindfold, must of necessity stumble upon any unusual impediment being encountered. Such an accident shows no fault in the quadruped; but the man is truly responsible for those consequences which his folly has induced.

When a horse stumbles, never raise your voice—the creature dreads its master's chiding; never jag the reins—the mouth of the horse is far more sensitive than the human lips; never use the lash—the horse is so timid that the slightest correction overpowers its reasoning faculties. Speak to the creature; reassure the palpitating frame; seek to restore those perceptions which will form the best guard against any repetition of the faulty action. When the legs are weak, the greater should be the care of him who holds the reins. No cruelty can restore the lost tonicity of the limbs; therefore all slashing is utterly thrown away. If the reader regard his own safety, let him not, when riding, hold the head up, or, when driving, sanction the employment of a bearing-rein. No inhumanity can convert an animal with a ewe neck into the creature with a naturally lofty crest. The disguise of such a defect as a head badly placed on the neck is an impossibility. Therefore, if you are desirous of a well-carried head, think of it when making the purchase. Pay something more, and any kind of quadruped is obtainable; but be above the meanness which purchases for a low figure, and then endeavors to palm off its cheap article as a jewel procured at the highest price.

When a horse has been down, never judge of the injury by the first appearance. While the animal stands in the yard, order the groom to fetch a pail, with milk-warm water and a large sponge. With these he is to clean the knees—not after the usual coarse and filthy fashion now universal; not by first sopping the part, and then squeezing the soiled sponge into the pail whence more fluid is to be abstracted. The dabbing and smearing a wound simply irritates it; and the dirt, having all entered into the pail, the fluid is rendered unsuited to after cleanly purposes.

To perform the office properly, the knee should not be touched. The sponge should be saturated, then squeezed dry above the seat of injury. The water thus flows in a full stream over the part, and, by the force of gravity, carries away any loose dirt that may be upon the surface. Sopping, dabbing, wiping, and smearing occasion pain, and can remove nothing which may have entered the skin and which is protected from the action of the sponge by a covering of hair; whereas by the plan recommended the dirt is removed, the part is not debilitated, neither is its natural energy destroyed. The last drop of water, moreover, is as clean as was the first, and the animal is not irritated immediately prior to a surgical examination.

The wound being cleansed, a certain time should be allowed to elapse for the horse to recover its composure. It should return to the stable, have a feed of corn, and be watered. Then the real business commences. The animal should be gently approached; its condition should be observed. If any nervousness is exhibited, the person ought to retire, and a further pause should be allowed. If, on the second visit, any unusual symptoms are displayed, have the quadruped led into the yard and blindfolded. Let a man take up the other fore leg, when the knee may be examined with safety.

Place the palm of the hand over the joint. Hold it there to ascertain if any heat or swelling is to be detected. Should there be swelling, make gradual and gentle pressure upon it with the thumb or one finger. If, upon suddenly removing the hand, an indent is conspicuous, it argues considerable effusion, and justifies fear as to the result. Should neither heat nor swelling be remarked, further pressure is to be made with the thumb upon the knee. The force should be gentle at first and gradually increased. If the action is sustained well, or even moderately endured, it allows of hope being entertained. But should the horse attempt to rear upon the first impress of the thumb, the result is very dubious. The absence of agony is far from anything approaching to a positive proof, as bone and synovial membrane, tendon and ligament, do not take on acute inflammation when first injured; but, from the response thus elicited, a fair inference as to the probability may be drawn.

Should the skin be lacerated, the probe must be employed. Such injuries are very deceptive. They may be much more extensive than the size of the wound would indicate. The probe being of metal, ought not to be thrust violently against every exposed part. This kind of proceeding can effect no good. The probe should be held lightly between the thumb and fore finger; no pressure should be made upon it—the instrument ought rather to fall of its own gravity than be forced into the flesh. A thin piece of wire can be readily driven into soft structures; but where an actual division exists, no opposition necessitating force will be encountered.

Broken knees always happen when the horse is in motion. The onward impulse is not by the fall immediately destroyed; but after the horse is down there always exists an impetus which has a tendency to propel the body forward. Should the skin of the knees be divided by the fall, the after-force obviously cannot affect the upper line of such division; but the lower edge of skin will present an acute obstacle to the roughened ground, and will, by the grating of the body, in all probability be rent from its attachments. When the animal rises, the action and the elasticity natural to the integument will occasion the torn portion of the skin which has been driven backward to once more assume its original position. By this means a kind of bag or purse is formed upon the knee. Grit, mud, and all kinds of impurities may be retained and concealed within this pouch. These will be disposed to irritate the structure with which they are in contact; suppuration is certain to be established, and sad consequences have followed such sacs not being early detected.

Such a cavity having been discovered, the next object is to ascertain its dimensions. That is done by gradually moving the probe along its sides. Should it be small, it will be sufficient that a hole be made through its most depending portion with a sharp seton needle. If it be large, the needle should be armed with a piece of tape knotted at one end. The sac being punctured, the needle is to be drawn through the opening, the tape being left in the cavity, and a seton is thus formed. The seton should be knotted at the other end, and moved its entire length every night and morning. It will prevent all premature attempts to heal, will stimulate the soft parts to suppuration, and will remove the dirt, as the tape affords a guide to the secretion. When inserting a seton into the knee, always use a large curved needle. The size of the instruments should never be regulated by any foreign standard, but should always be proportioned to the magnitude of the patient and the intention of the operator.

Three days subsequent to the full establishment of suppuration, cut off one of the knots, and, laying hold of the other knot, withdraw the seton. Its advantages by this time are gained, and its longer stay, by hardening the opening through which it passed, would occasion lasting blemish.

The reason of its insertion is thus explained. Where foreign matter is confined, no wound will heal; the orifice may close, but soon after abscess forms. This process is repeated until the suffering is long protracted. Danger is generally proportioned to the duration of the evil, where wounds not of a mortal character are concerned. By the agency of the seton, the foreign matter is removed and the healing process thereby considerably expedited. After the above plan, all blemish may be lost by the expiration of the third month, and the once injured knee restored to its uses, being as fine as any other part of the body.

Everything being accomplished as it is here directed, no attempt must in the first instance be made to poke out any particle of dirt which the probe may touch. The bagging skin being divided by the seton having been established in the sac, no further thought need, for the present, be given to a common but most vexatious attendant upon the customary treatment for broken knees.

The animal should be returned to its usual stall and have the head "racked up." Some cold water should then be procured, with every quart of which two ounces of tincture of arnica should be blended. A portion of this fluid ought, with a clean sponge of moderate size, to be poured into a saucer; the groom must have strict orders to take the sponge, and, having saturated it with the fluid, to squeeze it quite dry, allowing the liquor to run over the injured knee—after the manner previously illustrated, as washing the wound. Two men are required for this office, which should be performed every half hour throughout the day and night for half a week. The injury being thus made continuously wet, the cold produced by evaporation keeps down inflammation, while the arnica is a potent remedy for bruises and all kinds of contusions or lacerations.

If at the expiration of the period named no swelling appears, and suppuration seems to be thoroughly established by means of the seton, the halter may be released to a great extent, a cradle being merely fixed upon the horse's neck; the animal will thereby be permitted to lie down and to enjoy its natural rest.

But should the joint be much enlarged, should the part have become acutely sensitive, while the horse resolutely refuses to bear any weight upon the injured limb, then withdraw the seton, give the animal two pots of stout per day, and all the oats mingled with old beans which it will consume. Untie the head and place the horse in slings; employ the arnica lotion night and day, until the slough is thrown off, which, having taken place, change the liquid application for the solution of chloride of zinc—one scruple to the pint of water—and continue to employ this last lotion after precisely the same manner as has been previously directed.

Probabilities, however remote they may seem to be, are here endeavored to be anticipated; although the author's experience cannot recall a single case where the arnica lotion has been used with proper assiduity, and any but the most happy results have followed. When an animal has fallen violently to the earth, and has been, in the first instance, shown to the writer with much tumefaction and excessive tenderness, a slough has in exceptional cases followed; but never has the enlargement or the sensitiveness increased under the proper use of the arnica lotion. The slough, moreover, in such instances, has been superficial, only entailing loss of hair, and never occasioning open joint.

All horses are exposed to these accidents for the reasons already stated. Whenever such misfortunes occur, employ the arnica lotion. Should the skin be divided, still use the arnica lotion until copious suppuration is established. The secretion once seen, resort to the lotion formed of chloride of zinc and water—one grain to the ounce—which operates most marvelously upon all suppurating wounds.

No absolute period can be stated which a case of broken knees, when severe, ought to occupy. The danger, however, is generally passed by the expiration of a week, and the cure commonly entails loss of services for a couple of months.