461 
ON THE POWER OF NATURE IN PRODUCING 
RE-UNION OF FRACTURED BONES. 
By Mr, J. HorsbURGH, V,S, Dalkeith, N,B, 
The lower we descend in the scale of existence, we find diseases 
fewer in number and more simple in form. In the inferior ani¬ 
mals parts re-instate themselves which, in the higher, require the 
best treatment to heal, and even with that our purpose is fre¬ 
quently defeated. 
Nature, unassisted, will perform a cure in the lower animals, 
which, in man, often defies the best surgical skill. Take, for ex¬ 
ample, the sheep and the dog with fracture of the extremities. 
Left to themselves, re-union will take place as well as—and some¬ 
times better than—if the parts had been braced with the finest 
bandage applied with the greatest skill which the most experienced 
surgeon could employ. 
The shepherds never think of bandaging the leg of a sheep; 
and if their favourite dog should happen to receive a fracture, he 
must be his own surgeon, and he seldom deceives the expectations 
of his master. Even in the cow, re-union takes place without 
bandage. The farmers in the south of Scotland just turn them 
out in a soft meadow, or in a straw-yard, alone. On this I will 
furnish you hereafter with some interesting cases, my present in¬ 
tention being to apply this non-intrusion principle to fracture of 
some of the bones of the horse. 
First, as to fracture of the inferior maxilla, which often happens 
from kicks by other horses:— 
About three years ago I was called to examine a horse belong¬ 
ing to Mr. Dickson, of Shevingdean. He had slipped his collar in 
the night, and was found in the morning with a considerable swell¬ 
ing on one side of the head. He appeared to be much distressed, 
for he had received a blow opposite to the posterior maxillary canal, 
which had produced a transverse compound fracture. 
I ordered him to be tied to the rack; enlarged the wound a lit¬ 
tle; directed hot fomentation to the part; and desired that he 
should be fed on gruel of oat and pea-meal, without any hay or 
straw, and no bandage to be applied. 
He was kept in this way for five weeks, at the end of which 
time an unhealthy discharge shewed that re-union was not taking 
place. I had him cast. I cut freely down upon the fracture, and 
extracted a piece of bone of the form of a wedge, inserted between 
the two divided ends. Re-union speedily took place; and in 
about three weeks more the horse was well, and at work. 
VOL. XIII. 3q 
