Treatment. The beginning of the disease may often be cured by baths of running water, combined with massage. At a later stage, local stimulants, blisters, or firing are necessary. The best treatment probably consists in puncturing the parts with antiseptic precautions, washing out the synovial cavity with an antiseptic, and immediately afterwards lightly firing the surface of the region in points.
DISTENSION OF TENDON SHEATHS IN THE REGION OF THE KNEE.
Any of the numerous tendon sheaths which facilitate the gliding of tendons in the neighbourhood of the knee may become inflamed and give rise to a chronic synovial swelling. The commonest of such swellings is due to distension of the sheath of the extensor metacarpi magnus, which appears as a vertical line in front of the knee, extending from the lower third of the forearm and slightly to the outer side of the central line. This synovial enlargement arises in oxen working on broken roads, in clay or marshy soils, where the animals are liable to stick fast, and are often obliged to struggle vigorously in order to extricate themselves.
The diagnosis is based on the position and direction of the dilated synovial sheath.
Treatment is identical with that of other cases of chronic synovitis.
DISTENSION OF THE BURSAL SHEATH OF THE FLEXOR TENDONS.
This condition is rare. It is announced, as in the horse, by a dilatation of semi-conical form, the apex of which is situated opposite the lower margin of the carpal sheath, the base extending as high as the infero-posterior third of the radius.
The dilatation is more marked on the inner than on the outer side of the limb.
Distension of the synovial sheath of the common extensor of the digits in the fore limb and of the extensor of the external digit is still rarer than the preceding conditions.