PRINCIPLES OF VETERINARY SURGERY 615 



rich in carbonate of lime is not practical. Curative treat- 

 ment should be applied early. It is recommended to place 

 the sick animals in the best hygienic conditions, to change 

 the diet, to give food of good quality, rich in calcareous 

 salts and in phosphates, — cereals, barley, oats, bran, legum- 

 inoss, cotton oil cake, peanuts, — and finally to counteract 

 the progressive enfeeblement by appropriate medication. 



Bone-dust has been recommended. Soluble phosphates 

 of lime, oleum phosphorus o.i per cent in milk, at doses of 

 20 to 30 grams, cod liver oil in doses of 500 grams per day, 

 are all good remedies if not too expensive. Condiments, 

 sea-salt, bitters, iron, nux vomica, hydrochloric acid, or 

 gentian may be added to the food to facilitate absorption. 

 There is no occasion to treat the complications. Roloff ad- 

 vised that the treatment of the fractures and deformities 

 should give way to their destruction as food, unless they are 

 too loathsome for that purpose. 



EQUINE OSTEOPOROSIS. 



SYNONYMS. — Osteomalacia of the horse. Bran sick- 

 ness. Osseous cachexia of the horse. Diffuse rarefying 

 osteitis. Big-head. 



DEFINITION. — Osteomalacia of the horse is char- 

 acterized by an inflammation difiEused through the entire 

 skeleton, but especially through the bone of the head. Its 

 course is chronic, its termination is fatal, and its principal 

 features are co-existing rarefaction and hypertrophy of the 

 osseous tissue. Authorities differ both as to its nature and 

 its appropriate denomination. It has been regarded as 

 rachitis, especially vs^hen it attacks young animals. At 

 other times it has been attributed to a special or exclusive 

 diet, — ^bran sickness, — and finally, it has been described as 

 a special form of osteomalacia. 



The disease was studied in France by Laquerrier in 



