DISEASES OF HORSES 225 



head, though pertinent and more or less interesting, may be omitted. 



Age and temper are important factors of cure. A young, grow- 

 ing, robust patient whose vis vitse is active is amenable to treatment 

 which one with a waning constitution and past mature energies would 

 be unable to endure ; and a docile, quiet disposition will act co-opera- 

 tively with remedial measures which would be neutralized by the 

 fractious opposition of a peevish and intractable sufferer. 



The fulfillment of three indications is indispensable in all frac- 

 tures. The first is the reduction, or the replacement, of the parts as 

 nearly as possible in their normal position. The second is their re- 

 tention in that position for a period sufficient for the formation of 

 the provisional callus, and the third, which, in fact, is but an incident 

 of the second, the careful avoidance of any accidents or causes of 

 miscarriage which might disturb the curative process. 



In reference to the first consideration, it must be remembered 

 that the accident may befall the patient at a distance from his home, 

 and his removal becomes the first duty to be attended to. Of course, 

 this must be done as carefully as possible. If he can be treated on 

 the spot, so much the better, though this is seldom practicable, and 

 the method of removal becomes the question calling for settlement. 

 But two ways present themselves he must either walk or be carried. 

 If the first, it is needless to say that every caution must be observed 

 in order to obviate additional pain for the suffering animal and to 

 avoid any aggravation of the injury. Led slowly, and with partial 

 support, if practicable, the journey will not always involve untoward 

 results. If he is carried, it must be by means of a wagon, a truck, or 

 an ambulance ; the latter, being designed and adapted to the purpose, 

 would, of course, be the preferable vehicle. As a precaution which 

 should never be overlooked, a temporary dressing should first be ap- 

 plied. This may be so done as for the time to answer all the purpose 

 of the permanent adjustment and bandaging. Without thus secur- 

 ing the patient, a fracture of an inferior degree may be transformed 

 to one of the severest kind, and, indeed, a curable changed to an in- 

 curable injury. 



To obtain complete immobility is scarcely possible, and the sur- 

 geon must be content to reach a point as near as possible to that 

 which is unattainable. For this reason, as will subsequently be seen, 

 the use of slings and the restraint of patients in very narrow stalls is 

 much to be preferred to the practice sometimes recommended of 

 allowing entire freedom of motion by turning them loose in box 

 stalls. Temporary and movable apparatus are not usually of difficult 

 use in veterinary practice, but the restlessness of the patients and 

 their unwillingness to submit quietly to the changing of the dress- 

 ings render it obligatory to have recourse to permanent and immov- 

 able 'bandages, which should be retained without disturbance until 

 the process of consolidation is complete. 



The materials composing the retaining apparatus consist of 

 oakum, bandages, and splints, with an agglutinating compound 

 which forms a species of cement by which the different constituents 

 are blended into a consistent mass to be spread upon the surface cov- 



