FRACTURE OF THE PELVIS 257 



ischium which form the floor of the pelvis, or the bony cup (acetabulum) 

 which is engaged in forming the hip-joint, or the breach may take place 

 through the tuberosity of the ischium where it forms the point of the 

 buttock. Of course more than one of these several parts may be rent at 

 the same time. 



Symptoms. — Many and various phenomena result from fracture of the 

 pelvis, and veterinarians have attempted to assign to each particular frac- 

 ture its special set of symptoms, but it cannot be said that they have yet 

 established a reliable code. The physiological disturbance which results 

 from the fracture of any particular part of the pelvic girdle is sometimes 

 so masked and disturbed by injuries occasioned to neighbouring muscles 

 that the symptoms of no two cases of the same fracture sufiiciently 

 resemble each other to ensure correct diagnosis unless the fracture can be 

 localized by the hand through the rectum. 



Sudden lameness, more or less severe, according to the seat and nature 

 of the breakage and the extent of displacement, is the immediate eftect of 

 the mishap; or the animal may be so far disabled at once as to be unable 

 to rise when down or to stand when up. 



In some cases there is obvious deformity of the quarter. In fracture of 

 the neck or the inner angle of the ilium the croup becomes depressed, and 

 when compared with the sound side, while weight is on the leg, it is noticed 

 to be distinctly lower. Fracture of the outer angle of the ilmm gives the 

 quarter a flat appearance on the side of the injury, owing to the broken 

 piece having been i3ulled downwards by the muscles attached to it. This 

 is soon recognized by inspecting the quarters first from before and then 

 from behind. 



When the outer branch of the ischium is fractured, there may be 

 more or less swelling in the region of the hip-joint and about the inner 

 and back part of the thigh. 



In fracture of the pubis, swelling of a diff"used character appears sooner 

 or later between the thighs, about the sheath and scrotum in the horse 

 and the mammary gland in the mare. It may also extend in a forward 

 direction beneath the belly, or in a backward direction to the perineum in 

 the male or the vagina ni the female. 



Excepting in fracture of the outer angle of the bone {hi^) down) loco- 

 motion is very materially interfered with, and the power to bear weight is 

 either seriously impaired or altogether destroyed. 



In progression the limb on the side of the fracture may be moved 

 unduly outward (abducted) or inward (adducted), or the animal experi- 

 ences difficulty in bringing it forward or in raising it from the ground. 

 The horse fails to walk straight but moves diagonally with the rump 



VOL. II. 51 



