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and bandages a patient may be placed iu a condition of undisturbed 

 quiet and left to the processes of nature for " treatment " as safely and 

 with as good an assurance of a favorable result as if lie had been sub- 

 jected to the most heroic secundum artem doctoring known to science. 

 As a case in point, we may mention 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 " treatment" consisted in being tied up in a large 

 box and let alone. In due time she was delivered of a family of pup- 

 pies, and in three weeks she was running in the streets, limping very 

 slightly, and nothing the worse for her accident. 



Fracture of the 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 

 and disease of the articulation. The prognosis is unavoidably adverse, 

 destruction being the only termination of an incurable and very pain- 

 ful injury. 



Fractures of the tibia 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 incom- 

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



Complete fractures are easy to recognize, either with or without dis- 

 placement. 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 backwards is impossi- 

 ble. 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. 



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 be- 

 comes 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 dis- 

 covered at the point of the injury, the part being warm, swollen, and 

 painful. What further jiroof is necessary ? Is it not evident that a 

 fracture has occurred, first superficial — a mere split in the bony struc- 

 ture which, fortunately, has been discovered betbre some extra exertion 



