DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 301 



discovered in animals possessing- a light colored and delicate skin than 

 in those of the opposite character. 



There are difficulties in the way of the diagnosis of an incomplete 

 fracture, ev^en sometimes when there is a degree of impairment in the 

 function of locomotion, with evidences of pain and swelling- at the 

 seat of lesion. There should then be a careful examination for evi- 

 dences of a blow or other violence sufficient to account for the fracture, 

 though very often a suspicion of its existence can only be converted 

 into a certainty bj^ a minute history of the patient if it can be obtained 

 up to the moment of the occurrence of the injury. A diagnosis ought 

 not to be hastily pronounced, and where good ground for suspicion 

 exists it ought not to be rejected upon any evidence less than the best. 

 Serious and fatal complications are too often recorded of the results 

 following- careless conclusions in similar cases, among- which we may 

 refer to one instance of a complete fracture manifesting itself in an 

 animal during- the act of rising up in his stall after a decision had been 

 pronounced that he had no fracture at all. 



Fractures are of course liable to complications, especially those 

 which are of a traumatic character, such as extensive lacerations, tear- 

 ing of tissues, punctures, contusions, etc. Unless these are in com- 

 munication with the fracture itself the indication is to treat them sim- 

 pl}^ as independent lesions upon other parts of the body. A traumatic 

 emphj^sema will at times cause trouble, and abscesses, more or less 

 deep and diffused, may follow. In some cases small bony fragments 

 from a comminuted fracture, becoming loose and acting as foreign 

 bodies, give rise to troublesome fistulous tracts. A frequent compli- 

 cation is hemorrhage, which often becomes of serious consequence. 

 A fracture in close proximity to a joint ma}^ be accompanied by dan- 

 gerous inflammations of important organs, and induce an attack of 

 pneumonia, pleurisy, arthritis, etc., especially if situated near the chest; 

 it may also cause luxations, or dislocations. Gangrene^ as a conse- 

 quence of contusions or of hemorrhage or of an impediment to the 

 circulation, caused by unskillfully applied apparatus, must not be over- 

 looked among the occasional incidents; nor must locljaiv, which is not 

 an uncommon occurrence. Even founder, or laminitis has been met 

 with as the result of forced and long continued immobility of the feet 

 in the standing posture, as one of the involvements of unavoidably 

 protracted treatment. 



When a simple fracture has been properly treated and the broken 

 ends of the bone have been securely held in coaptation, one of two 

 things will occur. Either — and this is the more common event — there 

 will be a union of the two ends b}^ a solid cicatrix, the callus, or the 

 ends will continue separated or become only partially united b}' an 

 intermediate fibrous structure. In the first instance the -fracture is 



