324 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 



fact, any permanent or efficient device as a means of retention is 

 within the scope of human ingenuity. If the reduction were success- 

 fully performed, would it be possible to keep the parts in place by any 

 known means at our disposal ? At the best the most favorable result 

 that could be anticipated would be a reunion of the fragments, with a 

 considerable shortening of the bone, and a helpless, limping, crippled 

 animal to remind us that for human achievement there is a " thus far 

 and no farther." 



In small animals, however, attempts at treatment are justifiable, 

 and we are convinced that in many cases of difficulty in the applica- 

 tion of splints and bandages a patient may be placed in a condition 

 of undisturbed quiet and left to the processes of nature for " treat- 

 ment " as safely and with as good an assurance of a favorable result 

 as if he had been subjected to the most heroic secundum, artem doctor- 

 ing known to science. As a case in point, mention may be made of 

 the case of a pregnant bitch which suffered a fracture of the upper 

 end of the femur by being run over by a light wagon. Her " treat- 

 ment " consisted in being tied up in a large box and let alone. In 

 due time she was delivered of a family of puppies, and in three weeks 

 she was running in the streets, limping very slightly, and nothing 

 the worse for her accident. 



FRACTURE OF THK PATELLA. 



This, fortunately, is a rare accident and can only result from direct 

 violence, as a kick or other blow. The lameness which follows it is 

 accompanied with enormous tumefaction of the joint, pain, inability 

 to bear weight upon the foot, and finally disease of the articulation. 

 Crepitation is absent, because the hip muscles draw away the upper 

 part of the bone. The prognosis is unavoidably adverse, destruction 

 being the only termination of this incurable and very painful injury. 

 Most of the reported cases of cures are based upon a wrong diagnosis. 



FRACTURES OF THK TIBIA. 



Of all fractures these are probably more frequently encountered 

 than any others among the class of accidents we are considering. As 

 with injuries of the forearm of a like character, they may be complete 

 or incomplete; the former when the bone is broken in the middle or 

 at the extremities, and transverse, oblique, or longitudinal. The 

 incomplete kind are more common in this bone than in any other. 



Symptoms. Complete fractures are easy to recognize, cither with 

 or without displacement. The animal is very lame, and the leg is either 

 dragged or held up clear from the ground by flexion at the stifle, 

 while the lower part hangs down. Carrying weight or moving back- 

 ward is impossible. There is excessive mobility below the fracture, 

 and well-marked crepitation. If there is much displacement, as in 

 an oblique fracture, there will be considerable shortening of the leg. 



