FRACTURE OF THE TWO FIRST RIBS. 
667 
nary revelations that even professional, much more therefore non- 
professional, persons are surprised and staggered to meet with : — 
The chest was nearly full of partially coagulated blood, and the 
two first ribs, or, according to the knackerian nomenclature, the 
two collar bones, were fractured about an inch and a half from the 
neck, and the one on the near side had punctured the upper por- 
tion of the lung, from whence the fatal hemorrhage had gradually 
been poured forth ; and, probably, it is the fact of the upper por- 
tion of the lung having been perforated that accounts for the length 
of time that intervened before a sufficient quantity of the vital fluid 
had been effused to produce suffocation and death ; unless, indeed, 
it be surmised that the displacement of the fractured portion did not 
take place till some time after the accident, and that then only 
did the laceration of the lung take place, speedily to be followed 
by death. At any rate, between three and four pailfuls were found 
in the chest, and, confirmatory of the first idea, a considerable por- 
tion was in the form of coagula. 
But this was not all ; for in the off rib a previous fracture had 
existed, the re-union of which had been very imperfect, accompa- 
nied by the rough circumambient deposit by which we universally 
find nature endeavouring to compensate for any lesion of continuity 
in the osseous structures : the only peculiarity here observable 
being, that this deposit was soft and spongy, possessing more of 
the character of mollifies ossium than the usual hardness and solidity 
that the callus generally acquires ; and, doubtless, owing to which 
it was that the unusual occurrence of a second fracture in the same 
part took place. 
The cause of this lesion is altogether enveloped in mystery. 
The man who drove the horse declares most positively that no ac- 
cident happened ; that no blow was given, no fall took place ; but 
that, after turning in from the road and again returning to it, the 
lameness suddenly and unaccountably appeared. Sceptical as I 
felt on first hearing this report, a very little reflection induced me 
to believe it, for I am not aware of any probable external cause, 
short of smashing the surrounding tissues, that could have produced 
it. Had the lesion occurred in an old animal, it might be said that 
the bones, as they are occasionally found to be in old age, had be- 
come unusually hard and brittle, and therefore a very slight cause 
might have produced the injury ; but this occurred in an animal in 
the prime of life — indeed, before the usual age when the full amount 
of calcareous matter is deposited. Or we could, on the other hand, 
conceive so improbable an affair in a frame- work unusually soft 
and rachitic; but in this case all the bones, with the exception of 
the defective re-union alluded to, were perfectly healthy. Then, 
again, we know that occasionally in the human subject fractures 
