Non-union in a fracture may depend on a variety of causes, some of them inherent in the parts themselves and others connected with the system, but the fact should be borne in mind that a vast majority of these cases are the result of mismanagement growing out of the physician's want of attention and skill.
The history of the case in question, furnished by those conversant with the facts, is as follows: The patient, a man 40 years of age, married, of good family history, and personally physically sound, on Jan. 5, 1899, was, in conjunction with his partner, operating a steam chopping mill, when from some unknown cause an explosion of the boiler occurred, the patient being struck on the left femur, by a piece of steam pipe, producing a fracture at the junction of the middle and lower thirds. A practitioner was called in and had the case