PARTICULAR FRACTURES. 241 



Our means oi keeping Fractures reduced could pro- 

 bably be rendered equal to every emergency, did our patient 

 possess intelligence ; however, having to contend with an 

 intractable animal, rendered worse by pain, but of pro- 

 digious muscular power, we must expect to meet with diflfil- 

 culties. Suspensioyi (by slings), to all appearance, holds out 

 a prospect of success ; and, in the improved form, a better 

 one than hitherto; however, experience has shown the 

 animal often does best when left to itself. Compresses, 

 splints, and bandages, constitute the chief means of retain- 

 ing the bones in their places. Some have proposed, how- 

 ever, to discard all apparatus, and, instead, to cover the 

 part with pitch, or any adhesive application. Others have 

 fired and blistered over fractures. In the adoption of re- 

 medial measures, much must depend on the kind of frac- 

 ture, and more on its situation. 



PARTICULAR FRACTURES. 



My own experience is limited, and English accounts are so unsatisfac- 

 tory, that I gladly avail myself of the French authors upon tliis subject, 

 among whom none stands more pre-eminent than Hurtrel d'Arboval. 

 From his writings, therefore, interlarded with the information I can glean 

 from English authorities, the following account is derived : 



Fractdred Cranium. This, the French writer informs us, is not fre- 

 quent: the skull itself being small, and the other parts, on that account, 

 oftenest receive the injury. The ordinary cause of cranial fracture is a 

 fall backward ; when it happens, either the occipital hone is broken, 

 or fracture of the base of the cranium is the consequence. In the 

 former case, the diagnosis is difficult ; in the latter, we must rely upon the 

 symptoms. These accidents are always fatal. 



Fractured Arch of the Orbit. — Mr Pritchard, of Wolverhampton, 

 details a case where " the orbit was fractured from the superciliary fora- 

 men in a line through the zygomatic process of the temporal and malar 

 bones, to the outer angle of the eye." The fracture was in two pieces, 

 " The skin was carefully drawn together over the orbit, and two pins of 

 silver wire by the twisted suture closed this part of the wound, and had 

 the effect of securing the detached portion of bone in its place. The 

 lateral part of the wound was not closed." Considerable inflammation 

 ensued, but eventually the bone became reunited, and all did well. 

 I. 16 



