146 THE STOCK owxkr's adviskr. 



]inib. Holes should he cut in the leather where the splints pass 

 over any sharp eminence. There is a new kind of splint used 

 in human practice, a kind of porous felt; this looks very nice and 

 light, and, by immersing in hot water, it becomes perfectly plia- 

 ble and will take the shape of the part; then applying cold 

 water, it becomes solid. When swelling is present before the 

 fracture is reduced, the splints may be maintained in position 

 by the loop bandage, which consists of strips of calico about two 

 or three inches broad, and long enough, when folded double, to 

 pass around the limb, with a few inches of excess; one of the 

 ends is then drawn through the loop and fastened to the other. 

 This bandage is useful when the degree of tightness requires to 

 be altered; but it must be replaced by the common roller, as soon 

 as the swelling has subsided, and supplemented by one or two 

 layers of bandage saturated with starch. We have used, with 

 good results, a tarred cord carefully applied to the whole lim'b 

 over the leather. The animal, if a horse, is to be kept in a state 

 of quietude, in slings, for a period varying from two to three 

 months. In foals, or unbroken horses, the slings must be dis- 

 pensed with, the limb being set in the ordinary way and the 

 colt being put in a comfortable box, bedded with sawdust, chaff, 

 or short straw. When the bones of horned cattle are fractured, 

 they must be treated in the same manner as those of the young 

 horse, slings being as a rule inadmissible. The limbs of dogs, 

 when broken, require nothing but a starch or j)laster of Paris 

 bandage; in the course of a very few weeks they will be found 

 completely recovered. To prevent dogs from biting the bandage, 

 it should be sprinkled with cayenne pepper before it sets. 



Modes of Uxiox. — The mode of union, as well as the length 

 of time required in repair, depends to a great extent upon the 

 bone fractured. An early consequence of fracture appears to be 

 an exudation of lymph, which ultimately becomes firm, when it 

 is called callus. The first eight or ten days blood is extravasated 

 into the medullary canal between the fragments and under the 

 periosteum; after a time sanguineous effusion is removed by 



