234 HEALTH AND DISEASE 



The wound will require to be dressed again some time in the course 

 of twenty-four hours, according to the amount of exudation and satura- 

 tion of the gauze. Another dressing will be necessary in forty-eight 

 hours, after which the carbolic solution used should be reduced in strength 

 to 1 in 40. Subsequent dressing must be made according to the state 

 of the wound. 



It will be understood that in the setting of the bone in compound 

 fracture the wound must be left accessible for the purpose of dressing. 



PARTICULAR FRACTURES 

 FRACTURE OF THE BONES OF THE SKULL 



Fracture in this region is comparatively rare, and serious in proportion 

 as the bone is depressed and the brain subjected to compression and trau- 

 matic injury. 



Those bones forming the front of the cranium (the parietal) are most 

 frequently broken, but fracture of those at the base of the cavity (occipital 

 and sphenoid) is most uniformly fatal in its results. 



The causes which produce the former are mainly concussion, especially 

 when the front of the head is brought into forcible contact with sharp 

 objects. The latter is invariably the result of striking the poll against 

 hard ground, or a wall, or other such resisting surface, when the horse 

 in rearing loses his balance and falls backwards. 



In these cases unconsciousness and paralysis immediately follow the 

 accident, and death results from concussion and haemorrhage into and under 

 the base of the brain. 



The writer once saw in the practice of the late Mr. Gowing the base 

 of the cranium of a horse, which had at some time been fractured, but 

 recovered sufficiently to allow of the animal resuming work, and to 

 be afterwards sold without any evidence of the injury being detected. 

 He was, however, the subject of repeated attacks of brain disturbance, 

 which ultimately led to his destruction, and post-mortem examination of 

 the head revealed decided indications of an old fracture involving the 

 two bones referred to above sphenoid and occipital. 



Fracture of the parietal bone occurs with or without depression, and 

 it is frequently difficult in presence of swelling to determine to what 

 extent, if at all, the bone has been driven inwards. If, however, con- 

 sciousness remains undisturbed, and there is no defect in locomotion, it 

 may be inferred for the present that the brain is but little interfered 

 with. But it should not be too hastily concluded that no cerebral 



