140 
FRACTURES OF THE CERVICAL VERTEBRAE. 
II.—FRACTURES OF THE CERVICAL VERTEBRA. 
Hie above fractures are not uncommon in horses. Fractures of the 
atlas, of the condyies of the occipital bone, and of the other vertebrae 
o tie neck occur, sometimes singly and sometimes together. The usual 
cause is falling on the racecourse—or in steeplechasing—or being driven 
over, or, in the case of refractory jibbers, from a rope or chain being 
passed around its neck and another horse harnessed to it. Biding- 
orses m violently bucking or falling over backwards, or even in arching 
the neck excessively, not infrequently fracture a cervical vertebra, usually 
the third or fourth. In bucking or leaping, if the fore-limbs are not 
iapu y extended, the animal comes to the ground on its mouth, and 
thus falling, even on soft ground, may fracture the third or fourth 
vertebra. Hertwig states having seen fracture of the odontoid process 
ot the second cervical under these conditions. But such fractures are 
iare. Vertebral fractures are seldom produced by kicks or thrusts with 
ie carriage pole. Cattle cause them by violently tilting at each other, 
n sma 1 animals they result from blows with heavy sticks or attempts 
to crawl through narrow openings in which they become fixed and 
struggle to get free. 
Symptoms. In horses, death usually occurs instantly from arrest 
ot respiratory and cardiac action, a result of the implication of the 
phrenic and other nerves of respiration. But in fractures of the first 
or ot the last two cervical vertebras, the animals may live for some 
time, I ractures of the last two are often followed by paralysis of the 
torticollis^ ^ Sh ° Ulder ’ while fractures of the oblique processes produce 
,± ri t 8 - h0 T in r ed by fallin g- was ridden for some miles, but died four 
days later, and post-mortem revealed fracture of the sixth cervical O B 
Schar enberg described the following case :-A horse, after mnnilg against a 
c OOI fell, rose again, and worked for three hours. Next day paralysis set in' 
death occurred on the third day, and post-mortem showed the body of the 
course ceivical broken completely across. A horse after falling on the race- 
comse was ridden some four or five miles further. Signs of paralysis then 
appeared, and two hours after the fall the horse died The o,,?o i j 
a transverse fracture of the body of the fourtli Cervical ^vertebra s t owe<b 
examined after death by Babe, had fractured the first cervical on August 21st 
e a mg, earned its head awry, showed swelling in the neighbourhood of 
the tiead “1 ter'stTh ‘° “ ^ “ y "“empt wastad^totisl 
‘ ^ ei . landing quietly m the stable until September 8th if 
sir. J* 
fallen ne ol e H f u aCt - Ure ? f both win gs of the atlas in a horse which had 
