322 CAPPED ELBOW. 



tuberance of the tibia and the trochlea of the astragalus, which 

 had a yellowish tint, had (from absorption) lost their cartilaginous 

 coverings, the bones being bare and soft*. 



An ingenious method of operating on encysted tumours — into 

 which it is so desirable to prevent the ingress of air — was devised 

 soitie years ago by Mr. Worgrove, a surgeon. Writing t on the 

 treatment of what surgeons call " house-maid's knee," he directs, 

 after the exhibition of a brisk purge, that an operation be per- 

 formed on the dropsical tumour, as follows: — Make an incision 

 one-eighth of an inch in length along the outer margin of the 

 tumour; then introduce a very small bistoury obliquely into the 

 cyst, at such a distance from the cutaneous incision as prevents the 

 escape of any fluid. With the bistoury in the sac, scarify the 

 interior in several places ; then withdraw the instrument, and 

 empty the cavity of its contents. Afterwards, apply a compress 

 and bandage, so as to prevent the possibility of any influx of 

 air. Whenever we entertain any thoughts of operating on bur- 

 sal tumour in the horse, some such method of procedure appears 

 to me safer than the common operation, and particularly when that 

 is intended to be followed by injection ; and quite as likely also, in 

 the end, to prove eflectual. 



Capped Elbow. 



Akin to " capped hock" is the disease I am now about to 

 describe under the analogous appellation of capped elbow. 



The Point of the Elbow, a part as familiarly known to a 

 horseman as the point of the hock, exhibits under disease the 

 same rotund fulness or enlargement as in either case is signified 

 by the epithet " capped." And anatomists know, that, while there 

 exists a correspondence between these " points" or protuberances 

 in relative position and structure, there can be discovered sufficient 

 analogy between their diseases to warrant the placing of the affec- 

 tion we are about to consider in the same nosological category with 



* Fuller accounts of these two cases will be found in The Veteeinakian 

 for 1847, vol. xx, p. 280-5. 



t In " The Dublin Medical Press," 26th September, 1842. 



