FRACTURES, ETC 237 



agreeable to the fly, or enablps the sheep to expel the larva when deposited. With 

 these preventatives, we have rarely lost a sheep from the grub, and think, that ia 

 most cases, they will be effectual. — S.] 



SECTION XVIII. 



FRACTURES, WOUNDS, AND BITES. 



It is not often that the sheep gets a broken bone by any fault of 

 his own, but the shepherd is sometimes a brutal fellow. If he is a 

 youngster, he is too frequently designedly mischievous ; and in the 

 struggle between a sheep and the dog a leg has now and then been 

 broken. The treatment of fracture below the elbow or the hock is 

 easy enough. The broken limb must not be roughly stretched or 

 handled, but the divided edges of the bone must be brought gently 

 and as perfectly opposite, and close, and fitting again to each other 

 as possible, and kept together by some strips of adhesive plaister or 

 pitch spread upon leather wound round the part. Over this splints 

 should be placed, reaching a little beyond the joint, above and below, 

 and these confined with more plaister, or with waxed thread. A little 

 lint or linen rag should have been previously placed under the end of 

 the splints, to prevent them from excoriating or injuring the part 

 beneath. This being done, the leg should not be meddled with until 

 the bandage becomes loose, which will be in about ten days. The 

 splints must be replaced once, and at the expiration of another ten 

 days the edges of the bone will generally be found to have united : 

 the animal, however, should be kept for a little while longer as quiet 

 as possible, and if the bone is not quite firm, the strips, without the 

 splints, should be once more bound round it. 



Sometimes considerable swelling will take place after the splints 

 have been employed. They may have been put on a little too tight, 

 or they do not press equally. They should not, however, be taken 

 oif at once, for the bones beginning to unite may again be separated 

 during the removal of the bandages ; but, with a sharp and strong 

 pair of scissors, two or three notches should be cut through the edge 

 of the bandage above and below. This will generally afford suffi- 

 cient room for the re-establishment of the circulation, and the swelling 

 will subside, without the fracture having been disturbed. 



If it should be a compound fracture, that is, if a portion of the bone 

 should protrude through the skin, either the setting of the bones must 

 be deferred until the wound is healed, or the bandages must be so 

 applied, that the wound can be readily got at for the purpose of dress- 

 ing. This, however, is so difficult a matter, that it will be prudent to 

 destroy the animal that has a bad compound fracture. 



