FRACTURES. 229 



especially during the first days succeeding that of their appHca- 

 tion. Any manifestation of pain, or any appearance of swelling- 

 above or below, or any odor suggestive of supjouration should 

 excite suspicion, and a thorough investigation should follow with- 

 out delay. The removal of the dressing should be performed 

 with great care, and especially so if time enough has elapsed since 

 its apphcation to allow of a probability of a commencement of the 

 healing process or the existence of any points of consoHdation. 

 "With the original dressing properly applied in its entirety in the 

 first instance, the entu'e extremity will have lost all chance of 

 mobility, and the repaii'ing process may be permitted to proceed 

 without interference. There will be no necessity and there need 

 be no haste for removal or change except under such special con- 

 ditions as have just been mentioned, or when there is reason to 

 judge that solidification has become perfect, or for the comfort of 

 the animal, or for its readaptation in consequence of the atrophy 

 of the limb from want of use. Owners of animals are often 

 tempted to remove a splint or bandage prematurely at the risk of 

 producing a second fracture in consequence of the failure of the 

 callus properly to consolidate. 



The method of applying the splints which we have described 

 refers to the simple variety only. In a compound case the same 

 rules must be observed, with the modification of leaving openings 

 through the thickness of the dressing, opposite the wound, in 

 order to permit the escape of pus and to secure access to the 

 points requiring the application of treatment. 



Fracture of different Bones. 

 Of the Cranial Bones. — Fractures of this variety in large 

 animals are comparatively rare, though the records are not desti- 

 tute of cases. AVhen they occur, it is as the result of external 

 violence, the sufierers being usually runaways which have come in 

 coUision with a wall or tree, or other obstruction ; or it may occur 

 in those which in pulling upon the halter have broken it with a 

 jerk and been thi-own backward, as might occur in rearing too 

 violently. Under these conditions we have witnessed fractui-es of 

 the parietal, of the frontal, and of the sphenoid bones. These 

 fractures may be of the complete or incomplete kind, which in- 

 deed is usually the case with those of the flat bones, and they are 

 liable to be comjoHcated with lacerations of the skin, in conse- 



