482 FRACTURES AND DISLOCATIONS. 



keep, and the risk of his future usefulness, attempts are 

 seldom made to reunite it. We destroy, however, many 

 horses with fractured bones that might be saved ; and it 

 was formerly much more the custom than at present to 

 attempt their cure. An old writer, of the name of Blount, 

 has given a very good figure, with directions for the treat- 

 ment of fractures of the extremities. If this were then 

 practicable, under the present improved state of the art, 

 probably broken bones might again be perfectly consoli- 

 dated. Even in fractures of the large and important bones, 

 if the horse was either carefully slung, or partly slung and 

 partly supported, a cure would often follow. When a bone 

 is broken, and there is no external wound, it is called a 

 simple fracture, to distinguish it from that producing a 

 wound externally, which is termed a compound fracture. 

 In simple fracture the divided bone after a time inflames ; 

 coagulable lymph is thrown out from the ends of the broken 

 portions ; within this lymph vessels first form ; the lymph 

 then becomes cartilage, and then the arteries deposit ossific 

 matter, which consolidates, and the bone is united. In 

 addition to this, there is another formation which occurs, 

 called callus. When a bone is fractured the surrounding 

 soft parts are injured, and they effuse lymph, which accu- 

 mulates about or around the ends of the bone. This effu- 

 sion is blended with that of the bones, and forms a tempo- 

 rary bandage about the parts. It undergoes similar changes 

 with the other lymph, and thus it becomes firm, binding 

 the parts together, and filling up any space that may be 

 left between them. This callus diminishes with time, but 

 always to a greater or less extent exists. When a fracture 

 is compound, in addition to the union of the bone, the lace- 

 rated soft structures have to be brought together by the 

 suppurative process, which, of course, will generally delay 

 the cure. Fractures are sometimes accompanied with dis- 

 location also ; in which case it is evident all attempts at a 

 cure will utterly fail. In the treatment of fractures, it is 

 necessary that our aim be directed to assist nature : first, 

 by replacing the divided ends as nearly as possible in their 

 original situation ; and, next, by proper applications, to re- 

 tain them there, until union be effected. In addition to 

 the foregoing fractures, there is another in which the bone 



