PRINCIPLES OF VETERINARY SURGERY 



613 



METACARPALS. 



Compact Past 



Diseased Sound 



Spongy Part 



Diseased 



Sound 



Water 



Fat 



Ossein 



Lime 



Phosphoric acid 



Magnesia, carbonic acid, etc 



10.45 

 1.10 

 35.91 

 25.96 

 21.32 

 5.26 



8.40 



2.00 



34.50 



26.48 



22.29 



6.33 



16.02 

 26.88 

 27.80 

 15.83 

 11.50 

 1.92 



13.83 

 13.15 

 36.79 

 16.72 

 15.55 

 4.06 



According to these results the alterations are most pro- 

 nounced in the cancellated tissue, the water and the fat. 

 The latter is augmented and the minerals and the ossein are 

 diminished. 



These analyses show that the osseous tissue is deprived 

 of its minerals by degrees, and that the fundamental sub- 

 stance is transformed into a sort of mucous substance and 

 then into fat. These alterations do not exist to the same 

 extent in all of the bones, which explains the different re- 

 sults obtained by chemical analysis. Other peculiarities 

 have been brought into prominence by these analyses. 

 Hoffman and Bergmann found the diseased bones richer in 

 phosphates than the sound ones. Marchand and Schmidt 

 have noticed lactic acid in them, and this was at first con- 

 sidered very important. It is, however, only the basis of 

 the theory that aims to explain the disappearance of the cal- 

 careous elements by the solvent action of lactic acid. This 

 view is disputed nowadays. Kopp, Lucanus, Hoffman, 

 Nessler and Leclainche found an abundance of fat in their 

 analyses, in fact there is a rarefaction of the compact tis- 

 sue, — a kind of eccentric rarefying osteitis. 



Moreover there are general lesions of cachexia and 

 anjemia, but these are of secondary importance. The mus- 

 cles are pale, emaciated, infiltrated, degenerated and fatty, 



