DISLOCATION OF THE FEMUR. 
567 
hand being passed under the upper part of the bone, whereas 
pressure was exerted with the other on the lower end, and 
forcible counter-extension at the same time employed. These 
means were ineffectual ; but on moving the parts, a crackling 
noise was heard, which inspired fears as to the existence of a 
fracture of the neck of the femur. In a note appended to 
the above case, a very just opinion is emitted by the re- 
porters, that the crackling was due to rupture of some fibres 
of the round ligament, or to friction of the head of the femur 
against the margin of the acetabulum. The round ligament 
was probably severed at the time of the accident, or that 
some of the fibres of the capsular or pubio-femoral ligament 
might have been tearing; this is a conjecture of M. Yvart, 
one of the then editors of the Recueil. 
The above dislocation was ultimately reduced by using a 
pail between the thighs as a fulcrum. A mustard poultice 
was applied to the hip joint, with a view to induce a tume- 
faction, and diminish the chance of recurrence of the dis- 
location, and as a preventive against inflammation of the 
joint. The horse gradually, but completely recovered, and 
now serves as an example to show that in cases of the kind, 
and like the one I witnessed in Lyons, a veterinary surgeon 
should not despair.* 
Percivall in his ( Hippopathology/ quotes a case related 
by a Mr. Feron, who “ with unexampled difficulty and 
trouble” succeeded in reducing the dislocated bone; the 
actual cautery was applied on the joint, a dressing of tar, 
spirits of wine, and vitriolic acid, was afterwards used. The 
horse was after this turned out. In four months “he could 
get up himself, and walk tolerably sound; though at the 
trot he was still lame. But at the expiration of twelve 
months, he was perfectly sound in all his paces, and re- 
mained so.” 
I have next to refer to a memoir published in September 
of 1855, in the Turin Veterinary Journal . Its author, 
Antonio Bossetto, records no less than seven cases of 
hip-joint dislocation, that merit our special attention. The 
first occurred in the month of May, 1837. The patient was 
a cow, and it was the left hip that was injured. Appropriate 
measures were adopted, and the dislocation reduced ; but the 
owner, led away by two empirics, suffered them successively 
to treat the case, and under their care the accident recurred. 
Bossetto bought the cow for experiment, eighteen days after 
* In revising Mr. Field’s notes for publication, I have somewhat enlarged 
on the historical facts, to be more comprehensive in print. Otherwise, it 
has been my special desire to restrict myself to what I orally mentioned. 
