FRACTURE OF THE HUMERUS OF A HORSE. 
269 
owner the means of obviating these losses to a great extent 
within his own reach. As the cause and prevention of disease 
is a subject which is now engaging the deepest attention of 
the most eminent practitioners of human medicine, has it 
not, I would ask, some claims upon our own ? 
(To he continued .) 
FRACTURE OF THE HUMERUS OF A HORSE. 
By A. Dunlop, Student of Veterinary Medicine, 
Veterinary College, Edinburgh. 
H aving seen in the Veterinarian for February last a case 
of sudden fracture of the humerus of a horse, contributed by 
Mr. William Field, jun., who asks —“ How did the accident 
happen ?” and Cf Could the bone have been fractured during 
the run ?” &c. These queries have induced me to forward you 
an account of the following case, which I remember having 
seen in my father’s practice. 
A powerful draught horse was brought into the forge, 
lame in the near fore foot, caused by a nail in the shoe. At 
that time my father observed, and directed the attention of 
the owner to, a small, unhealthy wound, situated about the 
middle of the femur of the near hind leg, which had been 
occasioned by a kick from another horse. The owner con¬ 
sidered it of no consequence, as no symptoms of lameness 
had appeared, and he was, therefore, under the impression 
that the wound would be all right by the time the horse was 
sound in the fore foot. 
After being eight days in a loose box, the horse was taken out 
to work again, apparently quite sound, and continued so all 
that day. On going home from his work he stumbled, from 
the effects of which he was unable to proceed further, and 
on examining the wound my father observed a fractured 
bone protruding, and immediately caused him to be de¬ 
stroyed. A subsequent examination proved that the origin 
of the fracture was the kick already referred to, for the sur¬ 
faces of the two parts of the fractured bone had, by the con¬ 
tinual friction, become quite smooth. 
This case, I think, warrants the conclusion to which I 
now come, namely, that Mr. Field’s horse had received the 
fracture during the hunt, and the bone, although fractured, 
xxxiii. 36 
