In cases which are carried to a successful result the discharge will
diminish by degrees, the extreme pain will gradually subside, the
convalescent will begin timidly to rest his foot upon the ground, and
presently to bear weight upon it, and perhaps, after a long and tedious
process of recuperation, he may be returned to his former and normal
condition of usefulness. When the discharge has wholly ceased and the
wounds are entirely healed, a blister covering the whole of the joint
for the purpose of stimulating the absorption of the exudation will be
of great service. If, on the contrary, there is no amelioration of
symptoms and the progress of the disease resists every attempt to check
it; if the discharge continues to flow not only without abatement but in
an increased volume, and not alone by a single opening but by a number
of fistulous tracts which have successively formed; if it seems evident
that this drainage is rapidly and painfully sapping the suffering
animal's vitality, and a deficient _vis vitae_ fails to cooperate with
the means of cure--all rational hope of recovery may be finally
abandoned. Any further waiting for chances, or time lost in
experimenting, will be mere cruelty and there need be no hesitation
concerning the next step. The poor beast is under sentence of death, and
every consideration of interest and of humanity demands an anticipation
of nature's evident intent in the quick and easy execution of the
sentence.

[Illustration: PLATE XXX.

DISLOCATION OF SHOULDER AND ELBOW

Bourgelat's apparatus]

[Illustration: PLATE XXXI.

THE SLING IN USE]

One of the essentials of treatment, and probably an indispensable
condition when recovery is in any wise attainable, is the suspension of
the patient in slings. He should be continued in them so long as he can
be made to submit quietly to their restraint.

DISLOCATIONS.

Dislocations and luxations are interchangeable terms, meaning the
separation and displacement of the articulating surfaces of the bones
entering into the formation of a joint. This injury is rarely
encountered in our large animals on account of the combination of
strength and solidity in the formation of their joints. It is met with
but seldom in cattle and less so in horses, while dogs and smaller
animals are more often the sufferers.

_Cause._--The accident of a luxation is less often encountered in the
animal races than in man. This is not because the former are less
sub