VETERINARY SURGEON COMES. 475 



and comminuted. A simple fracture is merely the bone broken into 

 two portions ; it is compound when the broken bones lacerate the 

 soft parts around them ; and comminuted when the bone is reduced 

 to a number of pieces. A simple fracture is the least serious, and 

 provided the broken ends can be maintained in apposition, and no 

 important parts — as joints — are involved, recovery takes place more 

 readily in animals, perhaps, than in man. A compound fracture ia 

 sometimes hopeless, when the soft parts torn are of importance ; 

 and a comminuted fracture is generally a hopeless one. 



As a rule, no animal should be destroyed for fracture — especially 

 if it be a valuable animal — until it has been seen by a veterinary 

 surgeon ; as 1 have known horses, dogs, cows, goats, and sheep, 

 killed from a leg being broken when a cure could have been 

 effected. 



Until the veterinary surgeon comes the animal should be kept as 

 quiet as possible, and the broken bone fixed by means of a bandage 

 round it, above which wooden, pasteboard, stiff leather, or gutta- 

 percha splints should be fastened. Gutta-percha makes an excel- 

 lent splint, as when steeped in warm water it is softened, and can 

 then be moulded to the shape of the part. To prevent movement, 

 the greater portion of the limb should be enveloped in bandages. 

 If the fracture is compound, the bone should be " set," i. e., 

 straightened, so that the broken parts meet; then the wound 

 should be treated with cold water, if there is bleeding, after which 

 a linen bandage or handkerchief must be tied round it, then 

 splints. With small animals — as the dog, sheep, goat, pig, and 

 cat — a starch bandage, or Burgundy pitch melted and spread on 

 a bandage, answers very well. Horses sometimes receive a kick 

 from another horse on the inside of the thigh-bone, above the hock, 

 where the bone is only covered by the skin, and displacement or 

 fracture does not take place at the time — the bone being only 

 cracked. In some cases there is lameness ; in other cases it is so 

 slight that the horse is kept at work, and many days may elapse 

 before disunion occurs. I have known a horse perform hard work for 

 seventeen days after receiving the kick, before the leg became com- 

 pletely broken.) When, therefore, a horse receives an injury of 

 this kind, every precaution should be taken, and he ought not to 

 be allowed to lie down for three weeks or a month. If the bone 

 has been really cracked, in the course of a few days a hard swelling 

 will appear at the seat of contusion — the new matter thrown out to 

 repair the fracture. 



In all fractures of limb-bones there is great and sudden lameness, 

 and if manipulation be made, crepitation, or grating of the broken 

 pieces of bone on each other, will generally be felt. Cold water 

 continually applied to a fractured limb greatly alleviates pain. 



