326 IJUilEAL' OF ANIMAL INDUSTKY. 



the bones are completely broken, but the incomplete fracture can onlj'- 

 be suspected. 



Symptoms. — There is no displacement, but excessive molality, crep- 

 itation, inability to sustain weight, and the leg- is kept off the ground 

 by the flexion of the upper joint. 



No region of the body affords better facilities for the application of 

 treatment, and the prognosis is, on this account, usually favorable. 

 We recall a case, however, which proved fatal, though under excep- 

 tional circumstances. The patient was a valuable stallion of highly 

 nervous organization, with a compound fracture of one of the cannon 

 bones, and his unconquerable resistance to treatment, excited by the 

 intense pain of the wound, precluded all chance of recovery, and ulti- 

 mately caused his death. 



Treatment. — The general form of treatment for these lesions will 

 not differ from that which has been already indicated for other frac- 

 tures. Reduction, sometimes necessitating the casting of the patient; 

 coaptation, comparatively easy hy reason of the subcutaneous situation 

 of the bone; retention, by means of splints and bandages — applied on 

 both sides of the region, and reaching to the ground as in fractures of 

 the forearm — these are always indicated. We have obtained excellent 

 results by the use of a mold of thick gutta-percha, composed of two 

 sections and made to surround the entire lower part of the leg as in 

 an inflexible case. 



FRACTURE OF THE FIRST PHALANX. 



The hind extremity is more liable than the fore to this injury. It 

 is usually the result of a violent effort, or of a sudden misstep or twist- 

 ing of the leg, and may be transverse, or, as has usually been the case 

 in our experience, longitudinal, extending from the upper articular 

 surface down to the center of the bone, and generally oblique and often 

 comminuted. The sjmptoms are the swelling and tenderness of the 

 region, possibly crepitation ; a certain abnormal mobility; an excessive 

 degree of lameness, and in some instances a dropping back of the fet- 

 lock, with perhaps a straightened or upright condition of the pastern. 



The diflicidty of reduction and coaptation in this accident, and the 

 probability of bony deposits, as of ringbones, resulting in lameness, 

 are circumstances which tend to discourage a favorable prognosis. 



The treatment is that which has been recommended for all frac- 

 tures, so far as it can be applied. The iron splint which has been 

 mentioned gives excellent results in many instances, but if the frac- 

 ture is incomplete and without displacement, a form of treatment less 

 energetic and severe should be attempted. One case is within our 

 knowledge in which the owner lost his horse by his refusal to subject 

 the animal to treatment, the postmortem revealing only a simple frac- 

 ture with very slight displacement. 



