for a week. In cases in which it is necessary to keep the dressing
on for a week, or in cases where the patient is, through necessity,
kept in quarters that are wet or unclean, the first bandage is
covered with a layer of oakum which has been saturated in oil of
tar and this in turn is held in place by means of several layers of
bandages. The bandages are also saturated with oil of tar.

In from one to two months wounds so treated, unless they are
foot-wounds, will be ready to dress without being bandaged. It is
ordinarily unnecessary to dress foot-wounds oftener than every
second week after the discharge of synovia has ceased. When the
wound has filled with granulation, a protective dressing is applied
which is rendered water proof by the use of bandages covered with
oil of tar. The patient can now be turned out for a month or six
weeks without disturbing the dressing. After the removal of the
bandages, the only treatment necessary is an occasional application
of some mildly antiseptic ointment.

Except in nail pricks of the foot, occasioned by punctures, a five
per cent tincture of iodin is injected into open joints, if the
wound remains sufficiently open, and this treatment is continued so
long as there is a discharge of synovia. Surgical drainage is
established if it is considered practicable and the remainder of
the treatment is about the same as for wounds which are open.

Open joints occur in horses at pasture and are sometimes not
discovered until several days or a week after the injury, and in
some instances the wounds are filled with maggots. The only
difference in the treatment of these cases is that more time and
care is taken in cleansing the wound, more curetting is necessary,
and after cleansing the wound with peroxide of hydrogen, the joint
is thoroughly washed out with equal parts of tincture of iodin and
chloroform. This is followed by the injection of a quantity of
seventy-five percent alcohol and the wound is dressed and bandaged
as already described. At each subsequent dressing of infected
wounds so treated less suppuration is noticed and the synovial
discharge usually ceases in from one to two months.

About _ninety percent of all cases of open joint make complete
recoveries_, about four per cent partially recover and