446 CLINICAL VETERINARY MEDICINE AND SURGERY. 



tendons. A large spavin was visible, extending a considerable distance 

 forwards. The muscles of the croup and haunch were greatly wasted, 

 in consequence of the continual resting of the limb ; and lameness was 

 severe, even at a walk. There was no other apparent lesion. 



Treatment. — Needle firing of the bony tumour, and section of the 

 cunean tendon of the flexor metatarsi. Tenotomy of the perforans 

 tendon. The knuckling over at the fetlock immediately disappeared. 

 The foot was placed flat on the ground, but the phalanges seemed 

 unsteady during movement. During the following days the reaction 

 due to firing was intense. On the 29th the wound, consequent on 

 plantar tenotomy, had healed. The tendons were swollen, warm, and 

 painful, and the animal placed little weight on the limb. When 

 moving, the oscillating movement previously seen in the phalanges 

 had disappeared. 



The animal left hospital on the 6th June, thirteen days after treat- 

 ment. When returned a month later it went sound at a walk. 

 Between that date and i8g6 it was again seen several times. The 

 results were good, and the animal had continued walking work without 

 interruption. 



DISTENSION OF TENDON SHEATHS IN FRONT OF THE HOCK. 



151. A six-year-old Anglo-Norman mare, affected with distension 

 of the tendon sheaths in front of the right hock, entered hospital 

 February 2gth, 1896. 



A few months before the antero-external surface of the right hock 

 was seen to be swollen. It gradually increased in size, and was fired in 

 points without success. 



State oil Examination. — The antero-external surface of the right 

 hock showed an elongated vertical swelling extending above and 

 below the hock, forming a semi-cylindrical enlargement, slightly con- 

 tracted at its centre, due to distension of the sheath of the extensor 

 pedis tendon. On manipulation it appeared indolent and uniformly 

 fluctuating. If the lower part were compressed the upper increased in 

 size, and vice versa. Fluctuation existed throughout. Manipulation 

 showed that no communication existed with the synovial membrane of 

 the joint. 



Treatment. — Puncture and drainage of the cavity. On the 2nd 

 March the animal was cast on the table, and the anterior portion of the 

 hock prepared by shaving and disinfecting the skin over the ends of the 

 tumour. The lower part of the swelling was compressed by an 

 assistant, causing the liquid to accumulate in the upper cul-de-sac, which 

 was then opened with a bistoury. A quantity of light yellow, slightly 

 viscous liquid, resembling synovia, escaped. A grooved director passed 

 through the entire length of the cavity, and was arrested b}' the wall of 

 the lower cul-de-sac, a little below the inferior margin of the hock. The 

 lower part of the cul-dc-sac was opened over the prominence thus 

 produced, and the wound enlarged by passing a bistoury along the 

 groove of the director. A rubber drainage-tube, rendered aseptic by 

 boiling in carbolic solution, was introduced into the tract. 



