unimportant and deserving of
no more attention than placing the animal in such position as to insure it
against subsequent injury until the bones are united. Some distortion may
result, but not sufficient to warrant interference.

Fracture through the body of the bone on a line with the hip joint
(acetabulum) occasionally, though rarely, occurs, and is nearly always
associated with dislocation of the hip joint and the forcing of the head of
the upper bone of the leg (femur) upward, far out of its place. The violent
contraction of the powerful muscles of the hip renders it impossible to
reduce the dislocation, and even if it were possible the fractured pelvis
could not be held in position, so that the case becomes at once hopeless.
It may be recognized by the animal's standing on three legs, the leg on the
injured side seeming shorter than its fellow and hanging pendulous, the
muscles of the hip violently contracted and hard to the touch. The animal
evinces great pain when the limb is moved. There is liable to be some
apparent distortion in the relations between the point of the hip and the
point of the buttock. This will be more readily noticed by comparing the
injured side with the other. The parts may be moved so as to produce
crepitus. The examination may be completed by introducing the oiled hand
into the vagina or rectum, when the two sides of the pelvis will reveal
well-marked differences.

FRACTURE OF THE POINT OF THE HIP.--The anterior and external part of the
pelvis (ilium), commonly known as the point of the hip, is liable to
fracture, which stock owners describe as "hipping," or being "hipped," or
having the hip "knocked down." This accident may be the result of crowding
while passing through a narrow door, of falling violently on the point of
the hip, or from a violent blow directed downward and forward against it.
The lesion generally extends across the flat surface of the bone from its
outer and posterior edge forward and inward. Distortion is liable to be the
only noticeable symptom. The detached portion varies in size in different
cases and with it the resulting deformity. The animal is noticed to be
slightly lame, but this symptom soon disappears. The detached portion of
the bone is drawn downward and away from the main part by the action of the
muscles below, which are so powerful as to render return impossible. The
bones therefore remain permanently separated, union taking place by fibrous
callus. Th