LAMENESS, FROM VARIOUS CAUSES. 371 
arr scucussion thus received often occasions fracture. I know 
shat this iz the case; for, on making examination of some of these 
fracturcs, I found the skin over the region of the point of the hip 
bruised and abraded. Then, again, horses frequently get cast af 
nig] t, and are the subjects of colic, or other aches or pains. They 
struggle violently, get imprisoned, as it were, in their narrow 
apartments, and, when released by assistance, fracture of the pelvis 
is often discovered. 
This is not all. Sometimes sufficient bedding is not furnished 
te protect the animal from the effects of hurriedly reclining, or 
slipping down, on a hard plank floor, and the result is often the 
same as that just alluded to. Then, in view of prevention, these 
facts suggest the propriety of having wider stalls, and a liberal 
supply of shavings sr sawdust for bedding; that is, when straw 
can not be obtained; yet I think that when sawdust can be ob- 
tained, it is the most wholesome and economical bedding for 
horses. Taking a pathological view of the matter, I have to in- 
form the reader that a great proportion of these fractures occur 
among horses well advanced in years; and it may be that theis 
bones, in some cases, are brittle and very easily iractured, as is 
the case with some aged members of the human family, whose 
thigh bones have been easily fractured by a slight fall, or jumping 
out of bed in a hurry, many such cases being on record. 
The horse is occasionally subject to a disease of the bones known 
as fatty degeneration, which is said to be partly occasioned by an 
exclusive Indian corn diet. In such cases the vacuities in some 
of the bones are filled with oily matter, are light, and easily frac- 
tured. He is also subject to a disease known as rickets, which 
may depend either on hereditary predisposition or imperfect nu- 
trition. The bones are defective in early constituents, and, con- 
sequently, give way under the weight which they ought otherwise 
to sustain. The remedy is, a nutritive diet, partly composed of 
vats, and occasional doses of phosphate of lime. 
Tlorses very frequently fracture the pelvis by falling in harness, 
vut fur this I know of no remedy except careful driving; yet 
sometimes, in spite of due care, they must fall when traveling on 
slippery pavements, and when improperly shod. 
Treatment.—As regards the treatment of fracture of the pelvis 
I have but little to offer. It is all contained in the words ~es 
and roupfer-irritation (seton or blister), yet requires time “or 
