118 PARTICULAK FRACTURES. 



any definite conclusion ; but feeling sure there was detached 

 bone, the wounds were opened up, a piece of fractured bone in 

 a necrosed condition removed, and the wound brought together 

 by suture. The process of healing was rapid, and no more ab- 

 scesses formed, but the neck never became quite straight. There 

 was certainly a great improvement, and the animal worked for 

 years afterwards. The spinous processes of the dorsal vertebrae 

 are the seat of fracture, and when this occurs, the detached 

 fragments cause what is known as "fistulous withers;" the 

 sinuses must be explored, and the fragments removed. Occa- 

 sionally it is found that the tuberous ends of the spines are 

 merely bruised, ^d are in a state of caries or necrosis from the 

 violence. The treatment proper for this kind of injury is the 

 careful scraping away of the diseased surface. 



ON BROKEN BACK. 



Fracture of the spine is of two kinds : — 



1. Fracture without displacement. 



2. Fracture with displacement. 



Both of these fractures may be exactly similar in situation and 

 extent, and they may involve either the body of a vertebra, or 

 its arch, or both. 



1st. Fracture witlwut displacement generally occurs in the 

 dorsal vertebra. In our dissecting room it is revealed that 

 broken backs are no uncommon occurrences, and that the frac- 

 tures have united without the animal having apparently shown 

 any symptoms during life ; the bones having been kept in the 

 proper position by their ligamentous connections, and the spinal 

 cord never having been interfered with. 



In practice, however, cases are sometimes seen where, after a 

 severe fall, there is partial paralysis, showing clearly that the 

 medulla spinalis is more or less involved in the injury ; and as 

 illustrations of this, and indicative of the proper treatment of 

 such injuries, I will briefly relate two cases that occurred in my 

 practice while resident in Bradford. 



The first case, a truck horse belonging to tlie Lancashire and 

 Yorkshire Eailway Company, was knocked down with great 

 force by a passing truck. The force was so great as to cause the 

 horse to roU over two or three times on the ground ; he got up 



