FRACTURES. 309 



skill by the surgeon in the contrivance of the necessary apparatus. 

 One of the most important of the conditions which are available by 

 the surgeon in treating human patients is denied to the veterinarian 

 in the management of those which belong to the animal tribes. This 

 is position. The intelligence of the human patient cooperates with 

 the instructions of the surgeon, but with the animal sufferer there 

 is a continual antagonism between the parties, and the forced exten- 

 sion and fatiguing position which must for a considerable period be 

 maintained as a condition of restoration require special and effective 

 appliances to insure successful results. To obtain complete immo- 

 bility is scarcely possible, and the surgeon must be content to reach 

 a point as near as possible to that which is unattainable. For this 

 reason, as will subsequently be seen, the use of slings and the re- 

 straint of patients in very narrow stalls is much to be preferred 

 to the practice sometimes recommended of allowing entire freedom 

 of motion by turning them loose in box stalls. Temporary and 

 movable apparatus are not usually of difficult use in Veterinary 

 practice, but the restlessness of the patients and their unwillingness 

 to submit quietly to the changing of the dressings render it obliga- 

 tory to have recourse to permanent and immovable bandages, which 

 should be retained without disturbance until the process of consolida- 

 tion is complete. 



The materials composing the retaining apparatus consist of oakum, 

 bandages, and splints, with an agglutinating compound which forms 

 a species of cement by which the different constituents are blended 

 into a consistent mass to be spread upon the surface covering the 

 locality of the fracture. Its components are black pitch, rosin, and 

 Venice turpentine, blended by heat. The dressing may be applied 

 directly to the skin, or a covering of thin linen may be interposed. 

 A putty made with powdered chalk and the white of egg is recom- 

 mended for small animals, though a mixture of sugar of lead and 

 burnt alum with the albumen is preferred by others. Another formula 

 is spirits of camphor, Goulard's extract, and albumen. Another rec- 

 ommendation is to saturate the oakum and bandages with an adhesive 

 solution formed with gum arabic, dextrin, flour paste, or starch. 

 This is advised particularly for small animals, as is also the silicate of 

 soda. Dextrin mixed, while warm, with burnt alum and alcohol cools 

 and solidifies into a stony consistency, and is preferable to plaster of 

 Paris, which is less friable and has less solidity, besides being heavier 

 and requiring constant additions as it becomes older. Starch and 

 plaster of Paris form another good compound. 



In applying the dressing the leg is usually padded with a cushion 

 of oakum, thick and soft enough to equalize the irregularities of the 

 surface and to form a bedding for the protection of the skin from 

 chafing. Over this the splints are placed. The material for these is, 



