FRACTURE OF THE TIBIA. 325 



While incomplete fractures can not be recognized in the tibia with 

 any greater degree of certainty than in any other bone, there are some 

 facts associated with them by which a diagnosis may be justified. 

 The hypothetical history of a case may serve as an illustration : 



An animal has received an injury by a blow or a kick on the inside 

 of the bone, perhaps without showing any mark. Becoming very 

 lame immediately afterwards, he is allowed a few days' rest. Being 

 then taken out again, he seems to have recovered his soundness, but 

 within a day or two he betrays a little soreness, and this increasing 

 he becomes very lame again, to be furloughed once more, with the 

 result of a temporary improvement, and again a return to labor and 

 again a relapse of the lameness; and this alternation seems to be the 

 rule. The leg being now carefully examined, a local periostitis is 

 readily discovered at the point of the injury, the part being warm, 

 swollen, and painful. "\A^iat further proof is necessary? Is it not 

 evident that a fracture has occurred, first superficial — a mere split in 

 the bony structure, which, fortunately, has been discovered before 

 some extra exertion or a casual misstep had developed it into one of 

 the complete kind, possibly with complications? Wliat other infer- 

 ence can such a series of symptoms thus repeated establish ? 



The prognosis of fracture of the tibia must, as a rule, be unfavor- 

 able. 



Treatment. — The difficulty of obtaining a union without shortening, 

 and consequently without lameness, is proof of the futility of ordi- 

 nary attempts at treatment. But though this may be true in respect 

 to fractures of the complete kind, it is not necessarily so with the 

 incomplete variety, and with this class the simple treatment of the 

 slings is all that is necessary to secure consolidation. A few weeks of 

 this confinement will be sufficient. 



"With dogs and other small animals there are cases which may be 

 successfully treated. If the necessary dressings can be successfully 

 applied and retained, a cure will follow. 



FRACTURES OF THE HOCK. 



Injuries of the astragalus have been recorded which had a fatal ter- 

 mination. Fractures of the os calcis have also been observed, but 

 never with a favorable prognosis, and attempts to induce recovery 

 have, as might have been anticipated, proved futile. 



FRACTURES OF THE CANNON BONES. 



Whether these occur in the fore or hind legs, they appear either in 

 the body or near their extreuiities. If in the body, as a rule the three 

 metacarpal or metatarsal bones are afi'ected, and the fracture is 

 generally transverse and oblique. On account of the absence of soft 

 tissue and tightness of the skin, the broken bones pierce the skin and 

 render the fracture a complicated one. The diagnosis is easy when all 



