WINDGALL. 283 



synovial fluid is also altered : ordinarily, it is thinner and of a 

 deeper hue than in its normal state. 



WlNDGALL IS RARELY PRODUCTIVE OF LAMENESS ; SO rarely, 

 indeed, that horse persons in general look upon such swellings, 

 frequent as they are in horses of all ages and all kinds, with that 

 sort of complacence which denotes all absence of apprehension in 

 their minds on account of such blemishes. The washerwoman's 

 arms yield strong evidence in favour of this view of the harmless- 

 ness of windgalls, and pathological investigation into their history 

 and nature fully bears out the same views. The bursae are parts 

 in their normal state insensible. " The bursse, when unavoidably 

 cut in operations," says Dr. Munro, " have appeared to be insen- 

 sible, and I have observed them swell without considerable pain. 

 But sometimes, as in rheumatism, they swell with great pain*." 

 Now, in horses we know they commonly " swell without pain" or 

 lameness ; and this happens from the circumstance, we believe, of 

 inflammation not being an accompaniment of such swelling or 

 distention. In the young and growing horse, the joints, and bursae 

 along with them, become " dropsical " (as we may call it) from 

 " weakness," after such manner as has already been explained ; in 

 the adult and worked horse, they become so from an action aug- 

 mented or hypertrophic, but not to be called inflammatory ; and in 

 neither case, in the absence of inflammation, is pain or lameness a 

 consequence. Years roll over such horses' heads, and their wind- 

 galls remain in statu quo ; save and except such changes as may 

 be tardily going on in them, which, being brought about without 

 inflammation, are still, most likely, unproductive of lameness. 



This immunity of windgall from pain or lameness, however, has 

 its limits. We know there are states and times when the old and 

 worked horse suffers from his windgalls ; and we likewise know 

 that there are species of windgalls, connected more particularly 

 with the synovial sheaths of tendons, in which lameness is a 

 prominent symptom even from their very commencement. To 

 these respective cases we shall have occasion to advert when we 

 come to treat oi particular windgalls. 



The Site of Windgall will, of course, be confined to 



* Op. cit. at page 273. 



