FRACTURE OF THE SCAPULA. 319 



followed by complete disability of the patient, as, for example, when 

 the cotyloid cavity is involved, or when the reparatory process has 

 left bony deposits in the pelvic cavity at the seat of the union, which 

 may, with the female, interfere with the steps of parturition, or 

 induce some local paralysis by pressure upon the nerves which govern 

 the muscles of the hind legs. This is a condition not infrequently 

 observed when the callus has been formed on the floor of the j^elvis 

 near the obturator foramen, pressing uj^on the course or involving the 

 obturator nerve. 



Treatment. — The treatment of all fractures of the hip bone should, 

 in our estimation, be of the simplest kind. Rendered comparatively 

 immovable by the thickness of the muscles by which the region is 

 enveloped, one essential indication suggests itself, and that is to place 

 the animal in a position which, so far as possible, will be fixed and 

 permanent. For the accomplishment of this purpose the best meas- 

 ure, as we consider it, is to place him in a stall of just sufficient width 

 to admit him, and to apply a set of slings, snugly, but comfortably. 

 This will fulfill the essential conditions of recovery— rest and 

 immobility. Blistering applications would be injurious, though the 

 adhesive mixture might prove in some degree beneficial. 



The minimum period allowable for solid union in a fractured hip 

 is, in our judgment, two months, and we have known cases in which 

 that was too short a time. 



As we have before said, there may be cases in which the treatment 

 for fracture at the floor of the pelvis has been followed by symptoms 

 of partial paralysis, the animal, when lying down, being unable to 

 regain his feet, but moving freely when placed in an upright position. 

 This condition is due to the interference of the callus with the func- 

 tions of the obturator nerve, which it presses upon or surrounds. I 

 feel warranted by my experience in similar cases in cautioning owners 

 of horses in this condition to exercise due patience, and to avoid a 

 premature sentence of condemnation against their invalid servants; 

 they are not all irrecoverably paralytic. With alternations of moder- 

 ate exercise, rest in the slings, and the effect of time while the natural 

 process of absorption is taking effect upon the callus, with other ele- 

 ments of change that may be so operating, the horse may in due time 

 become able to once more earn his subsistence and serve his master. 



FRACTURE OF THE SCAPULA. 



This bone is seldom fractured, its comparative exemption being due 

 to its free mobility and the protection it receives from the superim- 

 jiosed soft tissues. Only direct and powerful causes are sufficient to 

 effect the injury, and when it occurs the large rather than the smaller 

 animals are the subjects. 



Cause. — The causes are heavy blows or kicks and violent collisions 

 with unyielding objects. Those which are occasioned by falls are 



