FRACTURES. 409 



but in the horse this has rarely or never been effected. We should consider 

 him a bold operator, but we should not very much dislike him, who made one 

 trial, at least, how far surgical skill might be available here. 



Mr. W. C. Spooner relates an interesting case, and many such have probably 

 occurred. A horse had been clipped about three weeks, and was afterwards 

 galloped sharply on rough ground, and pulled up suddenly and repeatedly, 

 for the purpose of sweating him. After that he did not go so well as 

 before, and would not canter readily, although he had previously been much 

 used to that pace. Two days before he was destroyed, the groom was riding 

 him at a slow pace, when he suddenly gave way behind and was carried home, 

 and could not afterwards stand. He had, doubtless, fractured the spine slightly 

 when pulled up suddenly, but without displacing the bones *. 



M. Dupuy was consulted respecting a mare apparently palsied. She had 

 an uncertain and staggering walk, accompanied by evident pain. After various 

 means of relief had in vain been tried during five-and-twenty days, she was 

 destroyed. A fracture of the last dorsal vertebra was discovered. It had never 

 been quite complete, and ossific union was beginning to take place. 



FRACTURE OF THE RIBS. These fractures are not always easily recognised. 

 Those that are covered by the scapula may exist for a long time without being 

 detected, and those that are situated posteriorly are so thickly covered by 

 muscles as to render the detection of the injury almost impossible. A man was 

 trying to catch a mare in a field. She leaped at the gate, but failing to clear it, 

 she fell on her back on the opposite side. She lay there a short time, and then 

 got up, and trotted to the stable. She was saddled, and her master, a heavy 

 man, cantered her more than three miles. She then became unusually dull 

 and sluggish, and was left on the road. She was bled ; and on the following 

 morning an attempt was made to lead her home. She was not, however, able 

 to travel more than a mile. On the following morning she was evidently 

 in great pain, and a veterinary surgeon, discovering a slight depression of the 

 spinous processes of the eleventh and twelfth dorsal vertebras and detecting a 

 certain crepitus, ordered her to be destroyed. On post mortem examination, the 

 twelfth dorsal vertebra was found fractured, and the eleventh, twelfth, and 

 thirteenth ribs on the near side were all fractured about two inches from their 

 articulation with the vertebrae t. 



Hurtrel D'Arboval says that " the two ribs behind the elbow are the most 

 subject to fracture, and the false ribs, from the yielding motion which they 

 possess, are least liable." The ordinary causes of fracture are kicks and blows, 

 or falls on the chest, and especially in leaping. The fractures are generally 

 about their middle, and, in the true ribs, commonly oblique. They are occa- 

 sionally broken into splinters, and if those splinters are directed inward, they 

 may seriously wound the pleura or lungs. In order most certainly to detect 

 the situation and extent of these fractures, it may be necessary to trace the 

 rib through its whole extent, and, should there be any irregularity, to press 

 firmly upon it above and below in order to ascertain the nature and extent of 

 the injury. 



If fracture is detected, it is not often that much essential good can be done. 

 If there is little or no displacement, a broad roller should be tightly drawn 

 round the chest, in order to prevent as much as possible the motion of the ribs 

 in the act of breathing, and to throw the labour on the diaphragm and the 

 abdominal muscles until the fractured parts are united. If the fractured parts 

 protrude outwards, a firm compress must be placed upon them. If they are 

 depressed, it will always be advisable to place a firm bandage over the seat of 



* Veterinarian, vol. xi. p. 207. f Veterinarian, vol. iii. p. 681. 



