317 



or a casual misstep had developed it into one of the complete kind, 

 possibly with complications 1 What other inference can such a series 

 of symptoms thus repeated establish ? 



The prognosis of fracture of the tibia must, as a rule, be unfavorable. 

 The difficulty of obtaining a union without shortening and consequently 

 without lameness, is proof of the futility of ordinary attempts at treat- 

 ment. But though this may be true in respect to fractures of the com- 

 plete 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 suffi- 

 cient. 



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

 successfully treated. If the necessary dressings can be successfully ap- 

 plied and retained, a cure will follow. 



Fractures of the lioch. — Injuries of the astragalus have been recorded 

 which had a fatal termination. 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 hones. — Whether these occur in the fore or 

 hind legs they appear either in the body or near their extremities. If 

 in the body, as a rule the three metacarpal or metatarsal are also af- 

 fected, and the fracture is generally transverse and oblique, and often 

 compound, one of the segments protruding sharply through the skin. 

 Having only the skin for a covering the diagnosis is easy. There is no 

 displacement, but excessive mobility, crepitation, inability to sustain 

 weight, and the leg is kept off the ground by the flexion of the upper' 



joint. 



No region of the body affords better facilities for the application of 

 treatment, and the prognosis is, on this account, usually favorable. 

 We recall a case, however, which proved fatal, though under exceptional 

 circumstances. The patient was a valuable stallion of highly nervous 

 organization, with a compound fracture of one of the cannon bones, and 

 his unconquerable resistance to treatment, excited by the intense pain 

 of the wound, precluded all chance of recovery, and ultimately caused 

 his death from nervous fever. 



The general form of treatment for these lesions will not differ from 

 that which has been already indicated for other fractures. Reduction, 

 sometimes necessitating the casting of the patient; coaptation, com- 

 paratively easy by reason of the subcutaneous situation of the bone ; 

 retention, by means of splints and bandages — applied on both sides of 

 the region, and reaching to the ground as in fractures of the forearm — 

 these are always indicated. We have obtained excellent results by the 

 use of a mold of thick gutta percha, composed of two sections and 

 made to surround the entire lower part of the leg as in an inflexible 

 case. 



Fracture of the first phalanx. — The hinder extremity is more liable 



