394 
SINGULAR CASKS OF FRACTURE. 
ment, I shall feel pleased to defend it ; and hesitate not to say 
it was, under the then existing circumstances, a rational and 
judicious treatment. 
I remain, 
Your obedient servant, 
Thomas Proctor. 
Solihull, 
June 18 , 1830 . 
SINGULAR CASES OF FRACTURE. 
By Mr. Trump, Merthyr Tidvil. 
The following very singular cases of fracture have lately oc¬ 
curred in my practice. 
About eighteen or twenty months since, a large draught horse, 
the property of the Dowlais Iron Company, came from his labour 
very lame of the near hind leg, without any visible sign of 
severe injury received. The foot was searched, and nothing fur¬ 
ther was done. He stood in the stable several days, and then 
was turned into a field, and was discovered one morning with the 
limb dependent, a fracture of the tibia, just above the hock. 
About ten weeks since, a mare belonging to the Penydarran 
Company came home from a journtey of seven miles very lame, 
with a slight mark on the inside of the thigh, a mere scratch, 
and very little tumefaction. There was nothing to account for 
such severe lameness; but a few mornings afterwards, the tibia 
was seen to be fractured. The front of the bone was splintered 
as from a blow; the main fracture long and oblique. 
On the morning of Sunday last, June 6th, I was called to a 
case of fracture of the off hind leg of a beautiful draught horse, 
the property of the Dowlais Company. The horse had been very 
lame for seven .or eight days. A slight scratch was observed 
inside the thigh, with a little swelling, with increased heat and 
tenderness, just above the hock. I had twice searched his foot 
during the time he stood in the stable, not being satisfied that 
the apparent slight injury on the thigh was sufficient to cause 
such severe lameness. The lameness continuing, he was turned 
to grass, where he appeared quite well, except that the lameness 
remained two or three days, when I observed the tibia broken at 
the part mentioned, and evidently from a blow. My object is to 
know, if you, or afiy of your readers, have met with cases which 
inclined you to suspect that a fracture could exist so many days 
without detection. 
