ACCIDENTS. 651 



Dislocations of Bones. By dislocation is meant the displacement from their normal position 

 of the joint ends of bones. The signs of dislocation of a joint are, a change in the shape of 

 it, the end of the bone being felt in a new position, and impaired motion and stiffness. This 

 immobility of the joint and the absence of any grating sound, as of the ends of broken 

 bones rubbing against each other, guide us in our diagnosis between fracture and dislocation, 

 though it must be not forgotten that the two are sometimes combined. 



Treatment. Try by means as skilful as you possess to pull and work the joint back 

 again into its proper position, while an assistant holds the socket of the joint firmly and 

 steadily. It is the best plan, however, to call in skilled assistance. Do this at once, for the 

 difficulty of effecting reduction increases every hour. Only a careful study of the anatomy 

 of the dog enables one successfully to reduce dislocations, the assistance of a good veterinary 

 surgeon should therefore be always called in. 



After the bone has been returned to its place, let the dog have plenty of rest, and use cold 

 lotions to the joint, to avert the danger of inflammation. 



Fractures. By a fracture surgeons mean the solution of continuity between some parts of 

 a bone a broken bone, in other words. 



Fractures are called simple when the bone is only broken in one place, and there is no 

 wound; compound or open when there is a wound as well as the fracture, and communicating 

 therewith ; and comminuted when the bone is smashed into several fragments. 



The usual cause of a fracture is direct or indirect violence. 



The diagnosis is generally simple enough. We have the disfigurement, the displacement, 

 the preternatural mobility, and grating sounds, for our guides. If the fracture be an open one, 

 the end of the bone often protrudes. We mentioned the mobility ; this to the hands of the 

 surgeon, remember, for the dog himself can rarely move the limb. 



Treatment. We have first and foremost to reduce the fracture that is, to place the bones 

 in their natural position ; and secondly, we must so bandage or splint the bone as to prevent 

 its getting out of place again, and thus enable it to unite without disfigurement. 



Very little art suffices one to fulfil the first intention, but correct and successful splinting 

 is more difficult to attain, owing to the restlessness of the dog's nature and the objection he 

 generally evinces to all forms of bandaging. Happily, the fractures that are most easily set 

 and reunited are just those that are commonest in the dog namely, those of the long bones 

 of either fore or hind legs. The splints used may be either wood or tin, or, better perhaps 

 than either, because more easily shaped and moulded, gutta-percha this latter is cut into 

 slips, and placed in moderately hot water to soften it, the fractured limb is meanwhile set and 

 covered with a layer or two of lint, to arm it against undue pressure. The slips of softened 

 gutta-percha are next placed in position lengthwise, before and behind, and gently tied with 

 tape. If a layer of starched bandage is now rolled round, all the splinting will be complete. 

 We have been very successful in treating fractures with the starched bandage alone. Care 

 must be taken, however, not to apply either splints or bandages too tightly, else stoppage of 

 the circulation may be the result, and consequent inflammation or gangrene itself. Some 

 little care and " can " is necessary in applying the starch bandage. After setting the limb, pad 

 it well with lint, then apply two or three strips of strong brown paper dipped in the starch ; 

 over this goes the roller, well saturated with thick starch, over all the limb, including the 

 joints, upper and lower. Remember it must go very lightly over the actual seat of injury, your 

 object being to keep the parts in apposition without doing anything that is likely to excite 

 inflammation. Put over all a temporary splint say of tin to be kept on until the starch dries, 



