denly after
speeding; struggling to liberate a foot from a rail, perhaps to be
thrown in the effort--all these are familiar and easy examples of
accidents happening hourly by which our equine servants become
sufferers. We may add to these the fracture of the bones of the
vertebrae, occurring when casting a patient for the purpose of undergoing
a surgical operation, quite as much as the result of muscular
contraction as of a preexisting diseased condition of the bones. A
fracture occurring under these circumstances may be called with
propriety indirect, while one which has resulted from a blow or a fall
differently caused is of the direct kind.

_Symptoms._--We now return to the first items in our classification of
the varieties of fractures for the purpose of bringing them in turn
under an orderly review, and our first examination will include those
which belong to the first category, or the complete kind. Irregularity
in the performance of the functions of the apparatus to which the
fractured bone belongs is a necessary consequence of the existing
lesion, and this is lameness. If the broken bone belongs to one of the
extremities, the impossibility of the performance of its natural
function in sustaining the weight of the body and contributing to the
act of locomotion is usually complete, though the degree of disability
will vary according to the kind of fracture and the bone which is
injured. For example, a fracture of the cannon bone without
displacement, or of one of the phalanges, which are surrounded and
sustained by a complex fibrous structure, is, in a certain degree, not
incompatible with some amount of resting on the foot. On the contrary,
if the shank bone, or that of the forearm is the implicated member, it
would be very difficult for the leg to exercise any agency whatever in
the support of the body, and in a fracture of the lower jaw it would be
obviously unreasonable to expect it to contribute materially to the
mastication of feed.

It seldom happens that a fracture is not accompanied with a degree of
deformity, greater or less, of the region or the leg affected. This is
due to the exudation of the blood into the meshes of the surrounding
tissues and to the displacement which occurs between the fragments of
the bones, with subsequently the swelling which follows the inflammation
of the surrounding tissues. The character of the deformity will mainly
depend upon the manner in which the displacement occurs.