FRACTURES. 407 
tions a-recovery perfect enough to permit the return of the freedom of 
motion and work is essential; and on the other side, treatment is often 
difficult, on account of their indocility and of the numerous difficulties 
one has to overcome to keep the fragments of bones in place. For 
these reasons, animals that have received severe injuries are generally 
destroyed. It is not because the repairing process is insufficient; with 
animals, the bony tissue has the same structure and behaves in repairs the 
same way as that of man does. The old belief that bones of animals did 
not unite is dead long ago. But the duration and the expense of the 
treatment, its imperfect result, the remaining lameness when it is a bone 
of an extremity, frequently are objections which command the destroying 
of the patient. Numerous cases exist where the interference of the 
veterinarian is limited to the making of a correct diagnosis. There are 
some cases, however, where treatment must be attempted, even in large 
species ; it is when the regularity of locomotion is not indispensable to the 
usefulness of the animal (milking females, stallions, brood mares). Some 
conditions, favorable to the rapid and regular repair of fractures, must also 
be taken into consideration, such as the youth of the animal, its small 
weight, docility, the small displacement of the bony fragments, or the 
absence of wounds. Yet, let us repeat that it is a rule to destroy all sub- 
jects of little value. 
Such is not the case with small animals. For dogs specially, treat- 
ment we always attempt. It is easy, success is almost sure and many 
owners do not hesitate on account of expense. Ankylosis, deformities, 
permanent lameness, even amputation must not stop us. The preserva- 
tion of life is all that is wished for. 
Once treatment is decided upon, if the patient is not near the house 
where he is to be kept, he must be carried there without aggravating 
the trouble. The fractured leg should not be left to itself; it ought to be 
secured at once, even by a temporary dressing. For dogs, oakum, some 
linen, wooden splints, bandages are sufficient. For large animals, 
walking should be avoided; extensive movements of the lower ex- 
tremity of the leg promote useless pains and serious disorders at the 
fractured center; the bony ends may injure the skin, break it and trans- 
form a closed into an open fracture. The injured region should, be 
enveloped with linen rags, a sheet, a thick pad of oakum; it should be im- 
mobilized with splints and bandages, and the patient placed in a wagon. 
‘The ambulance found in some large cities is very useful. In both the 
animal is kept in the standing position and secured so that he cannot lie 
down. Great care must be exercised when the animal is taken from those 
vehicles as well as when he is made to enter them, so as to avoid alb 
struggles, mis-steps or falls by which the injury of the leg might suffer. 
