468 
FRACTURES OF THE SACRUM. 
connected by thick straps, rendering it impossible for the horse to bend 
the head and neck beyond a certain point, 
Hirzel employs for the same purpose a girth provided with a ring 
above the animal’s back, from which leather straps pass to a strong 
head-collar. He considers this absolutely prevents any danger of fracture 
of the vertebrae. 
The necessity for casting has been greatly diminished since the 
perfecting of the operating table. The best table now in use is that first 
invented in 1890 by M. Vinsot, and since considerably improved. For 
a description of this and other means of restraint, see the 1st volume of 
this series (“ Operative Technique ”), pp. 22 et seq. 
To prevent side-movements of the spinal column when the horse is 
cast, a man should seat himself on the quarter, and, with the same 
object, it is well to place the animal with the quarters at a lower level 
than the feet. In painful operations like castration, particularly in 
well-bred horses, chloroform should be used. It is also best to avoid 
castrating aged race-horses when in full condition, as the muscular 
development is then at its greatest. Such animals should previously be 
rested for eight to fourteen days in the stable and put on low diet. 
In suspected fissure of a vertebra, the animal must be kept from work, 
and prevented lying down for a month, either by being placed in slings 
or fastened up. In commotio medullae spinalis treatment is expectant. 
The animals should have a deep straw bed, and be turned from time to 
time to prevent decubitus. 1 In simultaneous paralysis of the rectum, 
the faeces must be periodically removed; and if the bowels are confined 
clysters of luke-warm soap and water may be resorted to. 
II.—FRACTURES OF THE SACRAL AND CAUDAL 
YERTEBRJE. 
Fractures of the sacrum are commonest in cows, and are caused either 
by external violence, falling on hard objects, or falling from a height, 
and in the foetus, by clumsy, violent efforts at assistance during parturition. 
Albrecht saw fracture between the sacrum and last lumbar vertebra in 
a bull after mounting a cow. A horse suffering from fracture of the first 
and second lumbar vertebrae after collision was seen in the Vienna 
clinique. In an army horse a fall was followed by fracture of the fourth 
and fifth lumbar vertebrae. 
Fractures of the caudal vertebrae in dogs and cats are most frequently 
produced by the animals being run over or having the tail nipped in a 
1 Decubitus is a convenient- medical term used to describe the ill effects attendant on the 
animal continuously lying in one position. It includes the formation of bed-sores, the 
production of hypostatic congestion, &c. [Jno. A. W. D.] 
