324 CAPPKD ELBOW. 



the tumour is found to be on every side attached, and to have a 

 broad basis, whose root, it is possible, may run deep enough to cling 

 to the capsule of the elbow joint. This renders extirpation diffi- 

 cult and dangerous. 



The Magnitude the tumour in question is likely to acquire 

 will, of course, be regulated by circumstances. Aggravating causes, 

 and especially when they come to be often repeated, will occasion 

 so much secretion and deposit through the inflammation they give 

 rise to, that very large tumefactions will be the consequence. The 

 ordinary magnitude of the tumour is that of a small apple ; but it 

 may grow as large as a very large apple, or a melon, and, when 

 solid and substantial within, its weight tells considerably. Mr. Braby 

 had occasion to excise one off a dray-horse, he informed me, weigh- 

 ing seven pounds ! 



Lameness is not an accompaniment of capped elbow, no more 

 than of capped hock, unless under extraordinary circumstances. 

 When the tumour comes to acquire enormous bulk and weight, or 

 to exhibit sores upon its surface, lameness may be occasioned by 

 the inconvenience and impediment to motion of the elbow joint it 

 causes, or by the pain or soreness produced on motion. 



Capped Elbow is caused by contusion of the part we call the 

 cap. Usually, it originates from a horse bruising his elbows in 

 lying down, either against the calkings of his hind shoes, or against 

 his hind hoofs, or, maybe, against the rough hard pavement he lies 

 down upon. As one proof that such tumours arise in this manner, 

 horses who do not lie down are never troubled with capped elbows. 

 And to shew that the calkings have most to do with the causation, 

 horses having their shoes turned up — such as cart and dray and 

 farm horses — are the common subjects of the disease. The same 

 fact will also teach us how to prevent them, as well as suggest a 

 necessary precaution in their cure or removal. 



The Cure or Removal of Capped Elbow admits of a bolder 

 practice than does capped hock. The reason for which is, that, 

 while the latter is ever contiguous to a bursal cavity, the former 

 is, in general, too remotely placed from synovial tissue to afford 

 any ground for apprehension on that score. Therefore, so long as 

 the tumour retains a fluctuating feel, or, indeed,, a soft or penetrable 



