SURGICAL AFFECTIONS, 203 



tious diet, and if need be stimulants. 



If the burn is deep and much of the epithelial tissue and the hair-folli- 

 cles destroyed, permanent disfigurement will result. 



F<RacTU<RES &n<d (Dislocations. 



The subject of fractures and dislocations is one which could with pro- 

 priety be omitted from this work ; for to those only who have made the 

 anatomy of the dog a study, and who are perfectly familiar with his bony 

 structure can an exhaustive treatise on the subject be comprehensive. 



For other than a skilled surgeon to attempt the treatment of a fracture 

 or the reduction of a dislocation, he must the more often grope about in 

 the dark, flounder in the mire of uncertainty, inhumanly torture his help- 

 less friend, and fail entirely in his purpose to repair the injury, or at best 

 leave him permanently deformed. For this reason it is apparent that the 

 discussion of the procedures of treatment is not only useless but perni- 

 cious, inviting attempts to do what only a surgeon should undertake. 



To know when a fracture or dislocation does exist is important, therefore 

 diagnosis and a brief consideration of the subject generally is admis- 

 sible. 



Fracture is said to be simple, when there is no wound of the skin com- 

 municating with the broken part ; compound, when there is such a wound ; 

 comminuted.when the bone is broken in several fragments. In young 

 animals fracture is sometimes partial, part only of the fibres breaking 

 and the rest bending; to such the name green-stick or willow fracture is 

 given. The long bones are most commonly broken ; but any other may 

 give way to direct violence. 



The symptoms of fracture are deformity; such as displacement, bending, 

 shortening, or twisting. Unnatural mobility ; as shown by grasping the 

 two ends of a broken bone and moving each independently of the other, 

 or the yielding of a part on pressure. Crepitus; a grating heard or felt 

 when the broken ends are rubbed against each other. 



Of these three signs deformity is often absent in fractures of the ribs, 

 pelvis, and shoulder blade; crepitus is prevented when the broken ends 

 are displaced, and can only be felt when they are drawn into their natural 

 positions. In addition to these symptoms there is more or less pain, 

 swelling, and helplessness of the injured part. Dislocations are charac- 

 terized by deformity and displacement. The external appearance of the 

 joint is changed, the prominence disappears or moves to another part, 

 usually leaving a depression in its place. A dislocated limb may be longer 

 or shorter than the normal, according as the head of the bone is displaced 



