306 



as well as luxations or dislocations, and the more so if situated near 

 the chest. GcuKjrene, as a consequence of contusions or of hem- 

 orrhage or of an impediment to the circulation, caused by unskillf ully 

 applied apparatus, must not be overlooked fimong the occasional inci- 

 dents; nor must JocVjciw, which is not an uncommon occurrence. 

 Even founder or laminitis has been met with as the result of forced 

 and long continued immobility of the feet in the standing posture, as 

 one of the involvements of unavoidably protracted treatment. 



When a simple fracture has been properly treated and the broken 

 ends of the bone have been securely held in coaptation one of two 

 things will occur. Either — and this is the more common event — there 

 will be a union of the two ends by a solid cicatrix, the callus, or the 

 ends will continue separated or become only partially united by an 

 intermediate fibrous structure. In the first instance the fracture is 

 consolidated, or united; in the second there is a false articulation, or 

 pseudarthrosis. 



The time required for a firm union or true consolidation of a fracture 

 will vary with the character of the bone affected, the age and consti- 

 tution of the patient, and the general conditions of the case. The 

 union Avill be perfected earlier in a young than in an adult animal, 

 and sooner in the latter than in the aged, and a general healthy con- 

 dition is of course, in every respect, an advantage. 



Tlie mode of cicatrization, or method of i-epair in lesions of the bones, 

 has been a subject of much study among investigators in pathology, 

 and has elicited various expressions of opinion from those high in 

 authority. But the weight of evidence and preponderance of oj)inion 

 are about settled in favor of the theory that the law of reparation is 

 the same for both the hard and the soft tissues. In one case a simple 

 exudation of material, with the proper organization of newly formed 

 tissue, will bring about a union by the first intention, and in another 

 the Avork will be accompanied by supjjuration, or the union by the sec- 

 ond intention, a i)rocess so familiar in the repair of the soft structures 

 by granulation. 



Considering the process in its simplest form, in a case in which it 

 advances without interruption or complication to a favorable result it 

 may probably be correctly described in this wise : 



On the occurrence of the injurj^an effusion of blood takes place be- 

 tween the ends of the bone. The coagulation of the fluid soon fol- 

 lows, and this, after a few days, undergoes absorption. There is then 

 an excess of inflammation in the surrounding structure, which soon 

 spreads to the bony tissue, when a true ostitis is established, and the 

 compact tissue of the bone becomes the seat of a ucav vascular organi- 

 zation, and of a certain exudation of iflastic lymph, appearing between 

 the periosteum and the external surface of the bone, as well as on the 

 inner side of the medullary cavity. After a few days the ends of 

 the l)one thus surrounded by this exudate become involved in it, and 



