326 DISEASES OF THE HORSE, 
simply as independent lesions upon other parts of the body. A 
traumatic emphysema at times causes trouble, and abscesses, more or 
less deep and diffused, may follow. In some cases small, bony frag- 
ments from a comminuted fracture, becoming loose and acting as. 
foreign bodies, give rise to troublesome fistulous tracts. A frequent 
complication is hemorrhage, which often becomes of serious conse- 
quence. A fracture in close proximity to a joint may be accompanied. 
with dangerous inflammations of important organs, and induce an 
attack of pneumonia, pleurisy, arthritis, etc., especially if near the 
chest; it may also cause luxations, or dislocations. Gangrene, as a 
consequence of contusions or of hemorrhage or of an impediment to 
the circulation, caused by unskillfully applied apparatus, must not 
be overlooked among the occasional incidents; nor must lockjaw, 
which is not an uncommon occurrence. Even founder, or laminitis, 
has been met with as the result of forced and long-continued im- 
mobility of the feet in the standing posture, as one of the involve- 
ments of unavoidably protracted treatment. 
When a simple fracture has been properly treated and the broken 
ends of the bone have been securely held in coaptation, one of two 
things will occur. Either—and this is the more common event— 
there will be a union of the two ends by a solid cicatrix, the callus, or 
the ends will continue separated or become only partially united by 
an intermediate fibrous structure. In the first instance the fracture is 
consolidated or united; in the second there is a false articulation, or 
pseudarthrosis. 
The time required for a firm union or true consolidation of a frac- 
ture varies with the character of the bone affected, the age and 
constitution of the patient, and the general conditions of the case. 
The union will be perfected earlier in a young than in an adult ani- 
mal, and sooner in the latter than in the aged, and a general healthy 
condition is, of course, in every respect, an advantage. 
The mode of cicatrization, or method of repair in lesions of the 
bones, has been a subject of much study among investigators in 
pathology, and has elicited various expressions of opinion from those 
high in authority. The weight of evidence and preponderance of 
opinion are about settled in favor of the theory that the law of repa- 
ration is the same for both the hard and the soft tissues. In one case 
a simple exudation of material, with the proper organization of 
newly formed tissue, will bring about a union by the first intention, 
and in another the work will be accompanied with suppuration, or 
union by the second intention, a process so familiar in the repair of 
the soft structures by granulation. 
Considering the process in its simplest form, in’a case in which it 
advances without interruption or complication to a favorable result, 
it may probably be correctly described in this wise: 
