250 



OPEBATIONS ON BONES. 



counter-extension; the maintenance of the coaptation of the seg- 

 ments; the adaptation of the dressing by spHnts, oakum, and 

 agglutinative mixtures; in a word, all the details of treatment may 

 - be here fulfilled with a degree of facility and jjreoision not attain- 

 able in any other part of the organism. An important if not an 

 essential point, however, must be emphasized in regard to the 

 splints. ^Vhether these are of metal, wood, or other material, they 

 should reach from the elbow joint to the ground, and should be 

 placed on the posterior face and on both sides of the leg. This is 

 then to be so confined in a properly construct- 

 ed box as to preclude all possibility of motion, 

 while yet it must sustain a certain portion of 

 the weight of the body. The iron splint rec- 

 ommended by Bourgelat is designed for frac- 

 tures of the forearm, of the knee, and of the 

 cannon bone, and will prove to be an appliance 

 of great value. For small animals our prefer- 

 ence is for an external covering of gutta per- 

 cha, embracing the entire leg. A sheet of this 

 substance of suitable thickness, according to 

 the size of the animal, softened in lukewarm 

 water, is, when sufficiently pliable, molded on 

 the outside of the leg, and when suddenly 

 hardened by the application of cold water 

 forms a comjDlete casing sufficiently rigid to 

 resist all motion. Patients treated in this 

 manner have been able to use the limb freely, 

 without pain, immediately after the application 

 of the dressing. The removal of the splint is 

 easily effected by cutting it away, either whoUy 

 or in sections, after softening it by immersing the leg in a warm 

 bath. 



Fracture of the Knee. — This accident, happily, is of rare occur- 

 rence, but when it takes place is of a severe character, being of the 

 comminuted kind, and always accompanied by synovitis, with dis- 

 ease of the joint, requiring for treatment therefor, besides the in- 

 dication of perfect immobiUty of the joint, that of open joints, 

 synovitis, and arthritis. 



Fracture of the Femur. — The protection which this bone re- 

 ceives from the large mass of muscles in which it is enveloped does 



Fig. 274. — Bourgelat's 

 Iron Splint for Fracture 

 and Lugation of the 

 Forearm. 



