322 • DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 



from fracture as among the best. The reduction, by extension and 

 counter extension ; the maintenance of the coaptation of the segments ; 

 the adaptation of the dressing by splints, oakum, and agglutinative 

 mixtures; in fact, all the details of treatment may be here fulfilled 

 with a degree of facility and precision not attainable in any other part 

 of the organism. An important, if not an essential, point, however, 

 must be emphasized in regard to the splints. Whether these are of 

 metal, wood, or other material, they should reach from the elbow joint 

 to the ground, and should be placed on the posterior face and on both 

 sides of the leg. This is then to be so confined in a properly con- 

 structed box as to preclude all possibility of motion, while yet it must 

 sustain a certain portion of the weight of the body. The iron splint 

 (represented in Plate XXVII) recommended by Bourgelat is designed 

 for fractures of the forearm, of the knee, and of the cannon bone, and 

 will prove to be an appliance of great value. For small animals the 

 preference is for an external covering of gutta-percha, embracing the 

 entire leg. A sheet of this substance of suitable thickness, according 

 to the size of the animal, softened in lukewarm water, is, when suffi- 

 ciently pliable, molded on the outside of the leg, and when suddenly 

 hardened by the application of cold w^ater forms a complete casing 

 sufficiently rigid to resist all motion. Patients treated in this manner 

 have been able to use the limb freely, without pain, immediately after 

 the application of the dressing. The removal of the splint is easily 

 eifected by cutting it away, either wholly or in sections, aft^r soften- 

 ing it by immersing the leg in a warm bath. 



FRACTURE OF THE KNEE. 



This accident, happily, is of rare occurrence, but when it takes 

 place is of a severe character, and always accompanied by synovitis, 

 with disease of the joint. 



Cause. — It may be caused b}'^ falling upon a hard surface, and is 

 usually compound and comminuted. Healing seldom occurs, and 

 when it does there is usually a stiffness of the joint from arthritis. 



Symftomis. — As a result of this fracture there is inability to bear 

 weight on the foot. The leg is flexed as in complete radial paralysis, 

 or fracture of the ulna. There is abnormal mobility of the bones of 

 the knee, but crepitation is usually absent. 



Prognosis. — Healing is hard to obtain, as one j)art of the knee is 

 drawn upward by the two flexor muscles which separate it from the 

 lower part. The callus which forms is largely fibrous, and if the 

 animal is put to work too quickly this callus is apt to rupture. In 

 favorable cases healing takes place in two or three months. Many 

 horses during the treatment develop founder, with consequent drop 

 sole in the sound leg, as a result of pressure due to continuous 

 standing. 



Treatment. — Place the animal in the slings, bring the pieces of 

 bone together if possible, and try to keep them in place by a tight 



