326 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 



simply as independent lesions upon other parts of the bod3\ A 

 traumatic emphysema at times causes trouble, and abscesses, moi-e or 

 less deep and diffused, may follow. In some cases small, bony frag- 

 ments from a comminuted fracture, becoming loose and acting as 

 foreign bodies, give rise to troublesome fistulous tracts. A frequent 

 complication is hemorrhage, which often becomes of serious conse- 

 quence. A fracture in close proximity to a joint ma}^ be accompanied 

 with dangerous inflammations of important organs, and induce an 

 attack of pneumonia, pleurisy, arthritis, etc., especially if near the 

 chest ; it may also cause luxations, or dislocations. Gangrene, as a 

 consequence of contusions or of hemorrhage or of an impediment to 

 the circulation, caused by unskill fully applied apparatus, must not 

 be overlooked among the occasional incidents: nor must lockjaw, 

 which is not an uncommon occurrence. Even founder, or laminitis, 

 has been met with as the result of forced and long-continued im- 

 mobility of the feet in the standing posture, as one of the involve- 

 ments of unavoidably protracted treatment. 



TMien a simple fracture has been properly treated and the broken 

 ends of the bone have been securely held in coaptation, one of two 

 things will occur. Either — and this is the more common event — 

 there will be a union of the two ends by a solid cicatrix, the callus, or 

 the ends will continue separated or become only partiall}' united by 

 an intermediate fibrous structure. In the first instance the fracture is 

 consolidated or united : in the second there is a false articulation, or 

 pseudarthrosis. 



The time required for a firm union or true consolidation of a frac- 

 ture varies with the character of the bone affected, the age and 

 constitution of the patient, and the general conditions of the case. 

 The union will be perfected earlier in a young than in an adult ani- 

 mal, and sooner in the latter than in the aged, and a general healthy 

 condition is, of course, in every respect, an advantage. 



The mode of cicatrization, or method of repair in lesions of th<> 

 bones, has been a subject of much study among investigators in 

 pathology, and has elicited various expressions of opinion from those 

 high in authority. The weight of evidence and preponderance of 

 opinion are about settled in favor of the theory that the law of repa- 

 ration is the same for both the hard and the soft tissues. In one case 

 a simple exudation of material, with the proper organization of 

 newly formed tissue, will bring al)out a union l)y the first intention, 

 and in another the work will be accompanied with suppuration, or 

 union by the second intention, a process so familiar in the repair of 

 the soft structures by granulation. 



Considering the process in its simplest form, in a case in which it 

 advances without interruption or complication to a favorable result, 

 it may probably be correctly described in this wise : 



