450 I-TIACTURES. 



of the stable was taken ixp ; a hollow dug under the fractured limb, and 

 this depression filled with straw, in order to afford a soft support for the 

 foot. He was bled, gruel alone given as food, and injections daily ad- 

 ministered. 



On the 25th day the rollers were removed and replaced. On the -AOth 

 day he began to rest on the fractured limb. On the GOth day the bandages 

 were removed, the fracture had been well consolidated, and the horse 

 rested his weight upon it. It is reluctantly added that he was afterwards 

 destroyed on account of some disease of the loins. 



Fracture of the radius. — This accident is not of unfrequent occur- 

 rence. It commonly takes an oblique direction, and is usvially tirst 

 discovered by the displacement of the limb. Mr. Gloag, of the 10th 

 Hussars, in the fourth volume of the ' Veterinarian,' gives an interesting 

 account of a case that occurred in his practice. ' An entire black cart- 

 horse was grazing in a field, into which some mares were accidentally 

 turned. One of them kicked him severely a little above the knee. He, 

 however, contrived to get home, and, being carefully examined, there was 

 found a simple fracture of the radius, about an inch and a half above the 

 knee. The ends of the fractured bone could be heard distinctly grating 

 against each other, both in advancing the leg and turning it sideway from 

 the body. He was immediately placed in a sling', not completely elevated 

 from the ground, but in Avhich he could occasionally relieve liimself by 

 standing. The leg was well bathed with warm water, and the ends of the 

 bone brought as true to their position us possible. Some thin slips of 

 green wood were then immersed in boiling water until they would readily 

 bend to the shape of the limb, and they were tied round the part, the ends 

 of them being tied with tow. 



A fortnight afterwards he became very troublesome, knocking his foot 

 on the ground, and when, at the expiration of the sixth week, he was 

 taken from the slings, there was a considerable bony deposit above the 

 knee. This, however, gradually subsided as the horse regained his 

 strength, and, with the exception of turning the leg a little outwards, he 

 is as useful as ever for common purposes. 



Fracture of the ulna. — This is far more exposed to danger than the 

 last two bones, and is oftener fractured. The fracture is generally an 

 oblique one, and about two-thirds from the summit of the bone. It is 

 immediately detected by the altered action and different appearance of 

 the limb. It is not so difficult of reduction as either the humerus or the 

 scapula, when the fracture is towards the middle of the bone. A great 

 quantity of tow saturated with pitch must be placed around the elbow, 

 and confined with firm adhesive plasters, the ground being hollowed away 

 in the front of the injured leg, so that no pressure shall be made by that 

 foot. 



Fracture of the femur. — Considering the masses of muscle that 

 surround this bone, and the immense weight which it supports, it would 

 naturally be deemed impossible to reduce a real fracture of the femiir. If 

 the divided bones are ever united, it is a consequence of the simple repose 

 of the parts, and their tendency to unite. Professor Dick, howevei', 

 relates in the second volume of the 'Veterinarian,' a very singular and 

 interesting account of the cure of fracture of the femur. He was re- 

 quested to attend a bay mare that had met with an accident in leaping a 

 sunken fence. He found a wound in the stifle of the hind leg running 

 transversely across the anterior of the articulation, about an inch and a 

 half in length, and in it was a portion of bone that had been fractiired, 

 and that had escaped from its situation towards the inside of the stifle, 

 where it was held by a portion of ligament. The isolated nature of the 



