CURB. 335 



cided. Such dubious and wavering testimony nnight at first seem to 

 reflect heavily upon veterinary writers. And yet, when we come 

 to consider that horses are not shot on account of curbs, and that it 

 is only perchance that a man in practice encounters such things in 

 dead horses, we shall, in part at least, withhold any meditated 

 condemnation. No honest writer, giving results as those of his own 

 observation, can describe what he has not seen : his descriptions 

 must — ought 'at least to be — drawn from his own practice in speak- 

 ing en maitre on such a point as this. 



In giving my own Opinion of the Pathology of Curb, I 

 would, in the first instance, by way of introduction, call attention 

 to the anatomy of the parts concerned. The flattened tendon of 

 the gastrocnemius internus (muscle), commonly called the tendo 

 perforatus, after expanding upon the point of the hock to form a 

 cap for it, continues its course straight down the back of the hind 

 leg, clothed by cellular tissue, and by means of it connected with 

 the parts around, and thus is confined in its place. In front of the 

 tendon, in the midst of this enveloping tissue, is a serous bursa; 

 while behind it, between its cellular investment and the skin, is a 

 tendinous band to which has been given the name of annular liga- 

 ment, whose glistening fibres are seen traversing the tendon evi- 

 dently for the purpose of binding it down, and so in action contri- 

 buting not a little to its power and effect. 



Now, if we, bearing this anatomical sketch in view, revert to 

 the seat of curb, we shall find that the site of the tumour is directly 

 opposite to the bursa in front of the perforatus tendon. Through 

 this bursa or thecal cavity runs the p^rforans tendon, and it is the 

 play the tendons enjoy at this particular part, in consequence of 

 the existence of the bursa and the looseness and paucity of their 

 attachments, that causes sprain or laceration to be seated here ; the 

 part sprained or lacerated being neither the tendon nor the ligament, 

 but the cellular sheath of the tendons. When curb is manifestecl 

 as the immediate consequence of the wrench or sprain, we must, 

 to account for such speedy tumefaction, suppose that bloodvessels 

 are ruptured, and blood extravasated. More commonly, however, 

 an interval elapses ere the swelling rises, and in that interval effu- 

 sion takes place, of , no doubt, the ordinary sero-lymphy deposit, 



