FRACTURES. 259 



region more fixed, to support the bones in tlieir position by band- 

 aging, and to establish forced immobility of the entire body 

 with the slings is usually all that is required. Ringbone, being 

 a common sequela of the reparative process, must receive due at- 

 tention subsequently. One of the severest complications likely to 

 be encountered is anchylosis. 



Fractures of the Os 2)edls. — Though these lesions are not of 

 very rare occurrence their recognition is not easy, and there is 

 more of speculation than of certainty pertaining to their diagnosis. 

 The animal is very lame, and, as much as possible, spares the in- 

 jured foot, sometimes resting it upon the toe alone and sometimes 

 not at all. The foot is very tender, and the exploring pincers of 

 the examining surgeon causes much pain. There is nothing to 

 encourage a favorable prognosis, and a not unusual termination 

 is an anchylosis with either the navicular bone or the coronet. 



No method of treatment needs to be suggested here, the hoof 

 performing the office of retention unaided. Local treatment by 

 baths and fomentations will do the rest. It may be months 

 before there is any mitigation of the lameness. 



Fracture of the Sesamoid Hones. — This lesion has been con- 

 sidered by veterinarians, erroneously, we think, one of rare oc- 

 currence. We believe it to be more frequent than has been sup- 

 posed. Many observations and careful dissections have convinced 

 us that fractures of these little bones have often been mistaken 

 for specific lesions of the numerous ligaments that are implanted 

 upon their superior and inferior parts, and which have been de- 

 scribed as a "giving way" or '-breaking down" of these liga- 

 ments. In our post mortem examinations we have always noted 

 the fact that when the attachments of the ligaments were torn 

 from their bony connections minute fragments of bony structure 

 were also separated, though we have failed to detect any diseased 

 process of the fibrous tissue comj^osing the ligamentous substance 



From whatever cause this lesion may arise, it can hardly be 

 considered as of a traumatic nature, no external violence having 

 any apparent agency in j)roduciag it, and it is our belief that it is 

 due to a pecuhar degeneration or softening of the bones them- 

 selves, a theory which acquires plausibility from the consideration 

 of the spongy consistency of the sesamoids. The disease is a 

 peculiar one, and the suddenness with which difierent feet are 

 successively attacked, at short intervals and without any obvious 



