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FRACTURE OF THE SECOND CERVICAL VERTEBRA. 
FRACTURE OF THE SECOND CERVICAL VERTEBRA. 
By Geo. Waters, M.R.V.S. 
To the Editor of ‘ The Veterinarian 
Dear Sir, — I was summoned in haste by a farmer on the 
estate of Sir St. Vincent Cotton, a short time since, at seven 
o’clock in the evening, to attend upon a valuable two-year-old 
cart colt, which was supposed to have dislocated his lower 
jaw by hanging back whilst being tied to the manger with a 
hempen halter. He was seen by the owner to fall back upon 
his haunches, but immediately recovered himself, and on 
getting up was observed to carry his head on one side. He 
was now turned loose into the straw-yard, a short distance 
from the stable, where he remained standing in one position 
until I saw him, about an hour after the accident. 
I found, on examination, that there was no injury or 
dislocation of the jaw, as was supposed by the owner ; but, 
seeing his head and neck curved on one side, and the neigh- 
bourhood of the upper cervical vertebrae somewhat swollen, 
I supposed this locality to be the seat of injury. The animal 
did not seem much disturbed, nor did he appear at all un- 
conscious of surrounding objects ; on the contrary, he ate 
some clover that was offered ; though, on our attempting to 
move him, on applying pressure with the hands to the part 
of the neck that was swollen, he immediately fell over as if 
he had been shot. While dow n I found it necessary, for our 
safety, to secure his legs, as he struggled very powerfully, 
although he was unable to rise, for the purpose of making 
a further examination of the neck, w T ith the view of ascertain- 
ing, if possible, whether any of the vertebrae were fractured ; 
but no crepitus could be felt. I, however, w T as quite con- 
vinced, after what I had just seen, that the spinal marrow 
was injured near the head, produced, I had very little 
reason to doubt, by a fracture of one of the vertebrae ; which 
opinion was communicated to the owrner, w ith the addition 
that there w r as no chance of his recovery ; he, however, lived 
till ten o’clock the following morning, about sixteen hours 
from the occurrence of the accident. 
I made a post-mortem examination wdthin an hour after his 
death. On cutting through the skin and muscles of the 
neck down upon the first and second cervical vertebrae, a 
quantity of extravasated blood w T as found, and on proceeding 
further with my dissections, towards the inferior part of the 
vertebra dentata, I found the body of that bone broken 
completely in tw^o, at the base of the odontoid process. 
