424 VETERINARY SURGICAL THERAPEUTICS. 
apparatus or the juxtaposition of the ends of the bones. To this effect 
slings are used. To avoid the fatigue of the superior muscles of the leg, 
which hangs inert and loaded with its bandage, it may be advantageous. 
to have the leg itself placed in suspension, in slings, by having it 
raised off the floor in a support of some kind, attached to the ceiling of 
the stall or the ropes of the apparatus of suspension. In digging the floor 
of the stall on a level with the fractured leg or raising the sound ones, all 
possibility of resting on the leg is prevented and the work of repair not 
disturbed. , 
‘Through the Bulletin dela Société Centrale de Médecine Vétérinaire 
(1883), Relier has given the description of 
an apparatus, contentive and suspensory, 
which he uses after the application of a 
dressing of circular rolls and agglutinative 
mixture for fractures, complete and incom- 
plete, luxations, serious articular sprains and 
diseases of the feet, where carrying of weight 
is impossible. Relier claims for his ap- 
paratus great superiority over the ordinary 
apparatus of suspension. In connection 
with this let us recall the fact that the 
crutch of Relier’s apparatus had already 
been recommended by Lafontaine, who re- 
commended the use of one made of wood, 
to give support to the fractured leg, in- 
stead of placing it in a special sling as Relier 
does. 
Up to recent years, the complete im- 
mobilization of the center of the fracture 
has been considered as the absolute rule. 
All defective, protruding callus, all the 
varieties of pseudo-arthrosis were attributed 
to an insufficient contention. And much. 
surprise was expressed when, in 1866, 
Championniére came and condemned all old methods, advocating im- 
mediate massage and precocious mobilization, which gives a more rapid 
and sure recovery. 
Immobilization is advantageous; it permits the regular formation of. 
callus and averts the danger of “refractures ” which may occur during the 
influence of shocks or of movements of torsion of the leg, when the new 
bony trabeculz have as yet only a slight solidity. But it is not necessary. 
Who has not seen dogs recover without the least treatment? Do not 
Fig. 97.—Apparatus of Rélier. 
