FRACTURE OF THE METACARPAL BONES. 141 
no eyes on the day following the birth. I went to see it, and to 
my surprise I found in the orbit, on the near side, an excrescence 
of fungus about the size of a common pistol ball, without any or¬ 
ganic structure. In the other orbit it was somewhat larger, 
answering in appearance to the former, with the addition of the 
membrana nictitans. 
CASE OF FRACTURE OF THE RIGHT METACARPAL 
BONES. 
By Mr. D. Mould en, V, S. y London. 
On July 24, 1826, I was sent for by Mr. W. Pain, of Michel- 
dever, seven miles from Winchester, where 1 then resided, to see 
an entire cart horse, of great promise, rising four years old, that 
had, it was supposed, broken his leg in going out of the stable to 
water; his foot having slipped underneath the sill of the door, 
which was considerably above the ground, the same having moul¬ 
dered away and formed an inverted arch. On my arrival, I 
found the poor animal in a most deplorable condition, standing 
upon three legs, and the broken one bent inwards ; the fracture 
was transverse, and four inches below the knee. I must confess I 
was very doubtful as to the result. But “ Nil desperandum” 
With the assistance of the owner and his servants, we placed 
the horse between the shafts of a waggon, and suspended him by 
means of a cart line to the timbers that went across above, with 
a couple of sacks moderately filled with wool under the abdo¬ 
men, and a breeching for him occasionally to recline upon, and 
which very materially assisted him. Having placed the fractured 
ends in apposition, I wrapped round them several sheets of brown 
paper, well soaped, and upon that some fine tow. I then bound 
these round moderately tight with an elastic bandage, and over 
this were four splints, so secured that they could not shift from 
the position in which they had been placed. 
Being a large animal, and very wide in his chest, I had a kind 
of pit dug, filled with soft hay, for the foot to drop into. In the 
course of a month he would frequently rest upon it with as much 
indifference as the other leg, for ten minutes at a time. He was 
kept in this position until the 20th of September, when all his 
trappings were removed, and to my great satisfaction, he walked 
across the stable with a slight degree of limping, but not at all 
distressed. He was kept in a loose place for two months more, 
and then sent to plough; worked upon the farm for two years, 
and then sold for 65/. as a stock horse, to a man named Bently, 
a person noted in that part of the country for horses for that 
purpose. 
