Knuckle

“ As they grow old, horses with erect pasterns are very prone to knuckle, especially in the hind legs. All kinds of heavy work, particularly in hilly districts, and fast work on hard race tracks or roads are exciting causes of knuckling. It is also commonly seen as an accompaniment of that faulty conformation called clubfoot, in which the toe of the wall is perpendicular and short, and the heels high—a condition most often seen in the mule, especially in the hind feet. ”

“ The first of these doubts may be solved satisfactorily by the bright and dilated appearance of the eye; the quality of the fore-quarter can always be guaranteed by the blue or healthy ruddiness of the jugular, or vein of the neck; while the rigidity of the knuckle, and the firm, compact feel of the kidney, will answer in an equally positive manner for the integrity of the hind-quarter. ”

“ Now open your hand, spreading out your fingers. As you move each finger up the knuckles loosen and dimple the skin; as you clench them once more together the knuckles curve into clean sharp forms. Each finger is based in a good strong knuckle, remember that. Young artists are too fond of crowding knuckles together, and if hands grew as their drawings indicate they would have a poor chance of gripping an oar, a handle-bar or even the useful knife and fork. ”

“ Of the limbs, one set, forming a pair, is 'arms'. To the arm belong the 'shoulder', 'upper-arm', 'elbow', 'fore-arm', and 'hand'. To the hand belong the 'palm', and the five 'fingers'. The part of the finger that bends is termed 'knuckle', the part that is inflexible is termed the 'phalanx'. The big finger or thumb is single-jointed, the other fingers are double jointed. The bending both of the arm and of the finger takes place from without inwards in all cases ”

“ Knebel, masculine, ‘branch, peg, moustache, knuckle,’ from Middle High German knębel, masculine, Old High German knębil, ‘crossbeam, girder, crossbar, cord, fetter, knuckle’; Dutch knevel, masculine, ‘packing stick’; Scandinavian knefill, masculine, ‘stake, stick’ ”

“ Add —ed and —ing to groan, cheer, fear, aim, spoil, thread, seat, pout, fool; as, groaned, groaning.
The knave has the knack of knitting quickly. The old knight kneels. Cut the knot with a knife. He knocked the door knob with his knuckle. Be prompt to do your duty. ”

“ The old-time pug-faced bruiser is dying out, not only because men no longer fight with their bare knuckles, but because their skill is so much greater in defence than it used to be, that a broken nose is a comparatively rare accident; and modern surgery can make a job of the worst battered faces. Your opponent aims chiefly for those places which are most susceptible to temporary but overwhelming effect—the jaw and the mark. ”

“ The knuckle of the hinge is the cylindrical part that connects the two leaves, Fig. 234. The "acorn" is the head of the "pintle" or pin that passes thru the knuckle. Sizes of butts are indicated in inches for length, and as "narrow," "middle," "broad" and "desk" for width. The pin may be either riveted into the knuckle as in box-hinges or removable as in door-butts. Sometimes, as in blind-hinges, [page 132] the pintle is fastened into one knuckle, but turns freely in the other.
A butt-hinge may be set in one of three positions, Fig. ”

“ We are all familiar with the prominence of the knuckles of the hand and the very efficient bursæ which cover them, but most persons do not recognise that the foot has no such knuckles (or prominent metatarso-phalangeal joints) and no bursæ over these joints, except that of the great toe which happens to be very much more exposed to friction and has a much greater range of action than the other four metatarso-phalangeal joints. This might be called by some persons a beautiful bit of adapta­tion for locomo­tion and by others an equally admirable bit of adapta­tion produced by locomo­tion. ”

“ I have noticed this time after time in pupils, even when they have overcome the same difficulty in the neck positions. In a short time the hand will get accustomed to the change of posture, in the meantime the knuckles must be kept quite flat, and the finger joints bent outwards. ”

“ He sat looking down at his hands—his fine strong unscarred hands. Suddenly, and unreasonably he thought of another pair of hands—his mother’s—with the knuckles enlarged, the skin broken—expressive—her life written on them. Scars. She had them. ”

“ It was of Shorty, swaying and sinking down limply in the snow, yelling his parting encouragement, one eye blackened and closed, knuckles bruised and broken, and one arm, ripped and fang-torn, gushing forth a steady stream of blood. ”

“ Knuckling is a partial dislocation of the fetlock joint, in which the relative position of the pastern bone to the cannon and coronet bones is changed, the pastern becoming more nearly perpendicular, with the lower end of the cannon bone resting behind the center line of the large pastern, while the lower end of this bone rests behind the center line of the coronet. While knuckling is not always an unsoundness, it nevertheless predisposes to stumbling and to fracture of the pastern. ”

“ With a small sharp knife make an incision in the thin skin between the inside of the legs and the body. Cut through the skin only, down toward the right side of the leg, and then on the left. Bend the leg over toward you, and you will see where the flesh joins the body and also where the joint is, for the bone will move in the joint. Cut through the flesh close to the body, first on the right of the joint and then on the left, and as you bend the leg over, cut the cord and gristle in the joint, and this will free the leg from the body. ”

“ This posture elevated her chin. I was about to say something, but just then I saw under that chin another crimson mark, the slenderest of slender lines, as if the finest knife-point dipped in blood had been drawn clear across the throat by a nervous hand. I durst not say to myself what I was reminded of by that. Not even to think of it at all. I half-feared that I had become insane, rubbed my forehead, and kept repeating: 'Oh! it is only her bonnet-strings tied too tightly, that is all!'
'I would not trust myself with questioning her then. ”

“ You cannot have forgotten the singular knife which was found in the dead man's hand, a knife which certainly no sane man would choose for a weapon. It was, as Dr. Watson told us, a form of knife which is used for the most delicate operations known in surgery. And it was to be used for a delicate operation that night. You must know, with your wide experience of turf matters, Colonel Ross, that it is possible to make a slight nick upon the tendons of a horse's ham, and to do it subcutaneously, so as to leave absolutely no trace. ”

“ Crampy constriction in the phalanxes of the fingers and under the nails. Lancinations and prickling in the back of the hand. The blood remains congested in the hand, which is of a violet color and as if paralysed; it has to be kept erect in order to prevent the congestion. 65. A black blood spirts out of the finger when pricking it ever so little. Vesicular eruption on the feet. Pains in the knees. Pains in the knees as if bruised and contused, especially in the left knee, which does not bear contact, and where the pain is as keen as if the part had been sprained. ”

“ In separating the soft parts from its neck, the edge of the knife should be always directed to the bone, to avoid the nerves and vessels on the inside. In some cases of injury, very little additional wound may be requisite. The glenoid cavity may, in consequence of being seriously involved in disease, also require removal; this is best accomplished by large cross-cutting pliers. Few vessels require ligature. The edges of the wound are brought together; the elbow is supported, and the arm fixed to the trunk, in order to keep the bones in apposition, and prevent motion. ”

“ We all conceived that Doctor Knaggs only intended to try to bleed him; and with this impression flocked round the body. Doctor Knaggs turned the corpse on one side, took off the cravat, and the neck appeared to have somewhat of a bluish look on one side. “Now, gentlemen,” said he, “here’s the spot (pressing it with his finger) : the spinal marrow is injured, perhaps in more places than one, or two either; the bones are dislocated, and the gristle between them is knocked out of its place. The formation of a gentleman’s neck is just the same as that of a horse’s tail ”

“ Lastly, knuckling is produced by disease of the suspensory ligament or of the flexor tendons, whereby they are shortened, and by disease of the fetlock joints. (See p. 372.)
Treatment.—In young foals no treatment is necessary, unless there is some deformity present, since the legs straighten up without interference in the course of a few weeks. When knuckling has commenced, the indications are to relieve the tendons and ligaments by proper shoeing. The foot is to be prepared for the shoe by shortening the toe as much as possible, leaving the heels high ”

“ In a perpendicular line with the lobes of the ears two sets of muscles will be found running down the neck. One hand is employed in such manner that the assailant's thumb digs into these muscles on one side of the victim's neck, and the finger-tips in the corresponding muscles on the other side of the neck. This gives a form of attack that is painful and convincing to the recipient. ”

“ The first flap is made posteriorly to the bone, by transfixing the limb, for which purpose the knife is entered at the mid-point between the anterior and posterior surfaces, carried transversely across the limb, and made to cut toward the posterior surface, in an oblique direction, until all the soft structures are divided. It is necessary, in entering the knife, to bear in mind that the bone lies opposite to the mid-point, and that, in carrying the knife across the limb, it would strike against the surface of the bone, unless means were adopted for its prevention. ”

“ Whether the pain of a wound in the knee is not greater than the pain of a wound in the groin——are points which to this day remain unsettled.
CHAPTER XX
The anguish of my knee, continued the corporal, was excessive in itself; and the uneasiness of the cart, with the roughness of the roads, which were terribly cut up—making bad still worse—every step was death to me: so that with the loss of blood, and the want of care-taking of me, and a fever I felt coming on besides—— (Poor soul! said my uncle Toby) ——all together, an’ please your honour, was more than I could sustain. ”

“ In traversing the thigh, the knife should pass behind the bone, and will be more or less remote from it in different individuals, according to the greater or less development of the posterior muscles, when, by cutting obliquely downward, to the extent of from four to six inches, according to the thickness of the thigh, a posterior flap is formed. The anterior flap is effected, not by making a flap, but by commencing an incision through the integuments and muscles on the side of the thigh opposite to the surgeon, at a little distance anterior to the extremity of the posterior flap. ”

“ An accidental wound of a joint, as from the blade of a knife, or a spike, entering the knee is a very serious affair, because of the risk of septic germs entering the synovial cavity either at the time of the injury or later. ”

“ Contusions of Joints.—Contusion is the mildest form of injury to a joint. Whether the violence is transmitted from a distance, as in contusion of the hip from a fall on the feet, or acts more directly, as in a fall on the great trochanter, the bones are violently driven against one another, and the force expends itself on their articular surfaces. The articular cartilages and the underlying spongy bone, as well as the synovial lining, are bruised, and there is an effusion of blood and serous fluid into the joint and surrounding tissues. ”

“ It was said that he had never been knocked out in all his boxing-career, that the kick of a horse on his chin would not knock him out, that his head was solid bone, and that the shortness of his jaw and thickness of his neck absolutely prevented sufficient leverage between the point of the jaw and the spinal cord for the administration of the shock to the medulla oblongata that causes the necessary ten-seconds’ unconsciousness of the “knock-out”. ”

“ If he attacks you on the right you have to parry him and then thrust, but for an attack on the left side the action of parrying will bring the toe of your butt into his jaw or ribs, disabling him, and it is a good thing to use your knee at the same time. ”

“ Kneading means rubbing the part circularly with the pulps of the fingers and the thumb or the palm of the hand, and is best combined with pinching up of the skin or muscles singly or together, and gently rolling them between the fingers and palms. ”

“ The _lower-arm type_ of paralysis, associated with the name of Klumpke, is usually due to over-stretching of the plexus, and especially affects the anterior branch of the first dorsal nerve. In typical cases all the intrinsic muscles of the hand are affected, and the hand assumes the claw shape. ”

“ In adolescent knock-knee the patient seeks advice because of the deformity or of pain after exertion, especially at the medial side of the epiphysial junctions, of being easily tired, and of incapacity for any occupation involving standing. The bones are coarse and badly formed, and there is frequently a spinous process projecting downwards from the medial side of the tibia about three finger-breadths below the joint. ”

“ If a stick cannot be got, take a handkerchief, make a cord bandage of it, and tie a knot in the middle; the knot acts as a compress, and should be placed over the artery, while the two ends are to be tied around the thumb. Observe always to place the ligature between the wound and the heart. Putting your finger into a bleeding wound, and making pressure until a surgeon arrives, will generally stop violent bleeding. ”