384 
BROKEN LEG IN A BULLOCK. 
were those 'of inflammation running on to mortification, and 
this was general throughout the greatest portion of the intestinal 
canal. 
Prosecuting my examination I found a portion of gut strangu- 
lated, causing inflation by gas of the proximate parts to about the 
size of a foot-ball. 
The strangulated portion was encircled by a band forming a 
loop, which, before being loosened, drew so completely up, that 
the smallest particle of aliment could not pass through it. 
Now, whether the strangulation had taken place in the first in- 
stance and caused these symptoms, or whether inflammation had 
taken place in the first instance from the effects of the tumbling, 
and the intestine becoming impacted, I leave to wiser heads to 
decide, not offering myself any conjecture. 
The second case is merely one of broken leg, which I was 
called upon to reduce, or, in country language, to set. The patient, 
a two-year-old bullock, accidentally got entangled in a bushy 
covert, and fractured the large metacarpal bone of the near hind leg, 
literally shivering it to pieces. Upon my seeing the patient, and 
viewing the case, I saw no probability of reducing the fracture so as 
to accomplish a cure, and 1 advised that he should be destroyed. 
But the owner, a humane man, would not consent to this. I told 
him I would not take it in hand, as I saw no chance of a cure ; 
but, if agreeable, I thought we could amputate it, and then it would 
be more likely to do well, and the animal, in the course of time, 
become fit for the butcher. To this he readily consented. So we 
immediately prepared for the operation, the minutes of which I 
need not give, except to say, it was not long in being performed. 
The two flaps of skin that were preserved were drawn over the 
end of the stump, and secured by stitches and bandages rolled 
over them. The beast was let loose. A little thin gruel was 
offered, which it drank with avidity. From this time to the end 
of the cure no untoward symptom took place, save a little super- 
ficial swelling, which was readily reduced by the usual means. In 
about six weeks, or a little more, the wound was nearly healed, 
the beast doing very well, and travelling remarkably adroitly upon 
three legs. No great length of time will make the animal fit for the 
butcher. 
