462 
REPORTS OF CASKS. 
REPORTS OF CASES, 
INCOMPLETE FRACTURE OF THE METACARPAL BONE. 
By W. Pendry, D.V.S. 
On September 30th I was called to see a tine team of six-year- 
old carriage horses, said to have been hurt by coming in contact 
with some iron girders laying on the street. The one horse had 
received several bad cuts, but of no particular nature, which un¬ 
fortunately was not the case with the other horse, he having re¬ 
ceived a far more serious injury, being a badly lacerated wound 
on the outside of the off fore leg, about six inches below 
the carpal joint; the tendinous portion of the lateral extensor 
of the phalanges being completely cut through and the peri¬ 
osteum removed, so that the smooth surface of the bone was 
exposed, showing an oblique, incomplete fracture of the metacar¬ 
pal, extending for about four inches from forward backwards. 
After examination I gave it as my opinion that the injury could 
be repaired with proper treatment. The horse with the more 
serious injury was removed to the owner’s stable in an ambulance 
and placed in slings. An attempt w T as then made to unite the 
severed tendon, but the upper portion was found to have con¬ 
tracted and could not be reached, even after a dissection of about 
two inches had been made for it. The hemorrhage being con¬ 
siderable and the lower portion of the tendon becoming so en¬ 
larged and congested, I decided to close the wound by drawing 
together what little skin was left by suture and to dress antisepti- 
cally, using a solution of sulphate of zinc and carbolic acid. In 
a few T days the stitches sloughed out, being soon followed by a 
bad sloughing of the tendinous portion of the extensor, the peri¬ 
osteum coming away at the same time, leaving the surface of the 
metacarpal bone. The sloughed portions were removed as fast 
as possible and dressed as before stated. In ten or twelve days I 
had a very healthy looking wound, which received a fresh dress¬ 
ing each day, without any further complication, except a con¬ 
siderable congestion of the back tendons, which happily subsided 
in a week”or so with simply a slight cutaneous slough. 
