402 BOVINE PATHOLOGY. 



A degneration of the gastrocnemii tendons has been 

 seen in young cattle. 



Fractures — solutions of continuity of the hard struc- 

 tures of the body — are simple, compound, or comminuted. 

 A fracture is simple when there is a breaking into two 

 parts ; when several fragments are formed it is commi- 

 nuted ; and it is compound when there is a communication 

 with the surface through a wound and sometimes pro- 

 trusion of a portion of bone. When one of the long 

 bones of the extremity is the seat (they are the most 

 frequent) the fracture may be longitudinal, transverse, or 

 oblique. The latter are the easiest to set, but the most 

 difficult to retain in position, and their sharp ends are apt 

 to pierce the skin and to convert a simple fracture into a 

 compound one, which is not at all satisfactory, since ex- 

 posure to the air excites suppuration, and materially 

 delays repair. Transverse fractures are difficult to set, 

 but easy to retain in position ; longitudinal are least liable 

 to displacement. When the bone is in a comminuted 

 condition, it requires to throw off all portions of which 

 the nutritive supply is cut on, and to unite together the 

 remaining fragments. Reunion of a fractured bone results 

 from the calcification and subsequent ossification of lymph, 

 which is thrown out around the fracture and forms the 

 interior callus, a plug inside the bone; the intervening 

 situated between the fractured surfaces, and the ensheath- 

 ing around the parts, binding them together. The callus 

 after a time almost disappears, and but little trace of the 

 fracture of the bone is visible. Rest is essential to the 

 proper performance of these processes, otherwise simply a 

 lymphy bond of union between the fragments may be 

 formed, constituting the condition known as '^ false joint.^' 

 Certain minor details of the process of repair have not 

 been touched upon, such as the rounding off of sharp 

 projections and the establishment of cancellated and 

 compact tissues continuous with one another. 



Symptoms of Fracture. — The principal symptoms are 

 deformities and pain of the part, interference with its 

 function, crepitation when on manipulation the extremities 



