92 PARTICULAR FRACTURES. 



charge taking place from the wound, and by the animal not 

 making that progress towards recovery which he has a right to 

 expect. 



2d. Superficial fractures of the lower jaw occur from severe 

 curbs and bits ; anteriorly and within the mouth from the bit, 

 posteriorly and under the jaw from the curb. 



Symptoms from Injury of the Bit. — Dribbling of saliva from, 

 or foaming in, the mouth ; the animal shy or perhaps vicious if 

 the mouth is touched ; inability to bear the introduction of the 

 bit ; difficulty in masticating food ; perhaps haemorrhage from 

 the mouth, or saliva streaked with blood. Upon examination, 

 the buccal membrane will be found bruised, inflamed, and 

 swollen, with perhaps a piece of bone sticking through it. 



Treatment. — Eemove the small fragments. As the fracture is 

 superficial, no bandaging is required ; but the animal must not 

 be bitted until the parts are completely healed and hardened, 

 or he will have a bad or weak mouth ever afterwards ; indeed, 

 some horses that I have seen never allow a bit to be put into 

 tlieir mouths again without great struggling and resistance. 

 The animal should be fed upon soft diet for some days after 

 the injury, and the wound examined occasionally, as portions 

 of bran, hay, or corn are apt to lodge in it, causing irritation, 

 and retarding the healing process. If the wound discharge 

 a foetid material, it should be s}T?inged with a weak solution of 

 carbolic acid ; in any case, the mouth may be washed with this 

 two or three times a day. 



Symptoms from Fracture hy the Curb. — Swelling and tender- 

 ness of either ramus immediately in front of the curb ; sinuses 

 shortly form, and within them loose pieces of necrosed bone 

 may be detected by the probe. The discharge is curdled, 

 foetid, but not very profuse. In some of these cases there is 

 no primary fracture, but necrosis of the superficial layer of the 

 bony tissue, arising from continued and severe pressure, pro- 

 ducing periostitis, gangrene of the periosteum, and death of the 

 bone, from the pressure, and non-supply of blood to that part of 

 it covered by the gangrenous periosteum. In other cases a bony 

 tumour forms here as a result of periostitis, and of increased 

 thickness of tlie superficial layer of the bone (hyperostosis). In 

 the first and second forms of injury, it is necessary to remove 

 the fragments of bone, whether they are necrosed or not. It is 



