DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 309 



position which must for a considerable period be maintained as a con- 

 dition of restoration require special and ctiective appliances to insure 

 successful results. To obtain complete immobilit}^ is scarceh^ possible, 

 and the surgeon must be content to reach a point as near as possible 

 to that which is unattainable. For this reason, as will subsequently 

 be seen, the use of slings and the restraint of patients in ver}^ narrow 

 stalls is much to be preferred to the practice sometimes recommended 

 of allowing entire freedom of motion by turning them loose in box 

 stalls. Temporary- and movable apparatus are not usually of difficult 

 use in veterinary practice, but the restlessness of the patients and 

 their unwillingness to submit quietlj^ to the changing of the dressings 

 render it obligatory to have recourse to permanent and immovable 

 bandages, which should be retained without disturbance until the 

 process of consolidation is complete. 



The materials composing the retaining apparatus consist of oakum, 

 bandages, and splints, wuth an agglutinating compound which forms 

 a species of cement by which the different constituents are blended 

 into a consistent mass to be spread upon the surface covering the 

 locality of the fracture. Its components are black pitch, rosin, and 

 Venice turpentine, blended by heat. The dressing may be applied 

 directly to the skin, or a covering of thin linen may be interposed. 

 A putty made with powdered chalk and the white of egg is recom- 

 mended for small animals, though a mixture of sugar of lead and 

 burnt alnm with the albumen is preferred by others. Another formula 

 is spirits of camphor, Goulard's extract, and albumen. Another recom- 

 mendation is to saturate the oakum and bandages with an adhesive 

 solution formed with gum arable, dextrine, flour paste, or starch. 

 This is advised particularly for small animals, as is also the silicate of 

 soda. Dextrine mixed, while warm, with burnt alum and alcohol cools 

 and solidities into a ston}^ consistency, and is preferable to plaster of 

 paris, which is less friable and has less solidity, besides being heavier 

 and requiring constant additions as it becomes older. Starch and 

 plaster of Paris form another good compound. 



In applying the dressing the leg is usualh^ padded w4th a cushion 

 of oakum, thick and soft enough to equalize the irregularities of the 

 surface and to form a bedding for the protection of the skin from 

 chafing. Over this the splints are placed. The material for these is,. 

 variously, pasteboard, thin v>^ood, bark, laths, gutta percha, strips of 

 thin metal, as tin or perhaps sheet iron. These should be of sufficient 

 length not onl^^ to cover the region of the fracture, but to extend 

 sufficiently above and below to render the immobility more complete 

 than in the surrounding joints. The splints, again, are covered with 

 cloth bandages, linen preferably, soaked in a glutinous mixture. 

 These bandages are to be carefullv applied, with a perfect condition 

 of lightness. The}- are usually made to embrace the entire length of 



