SPRAINS OF TENDONS. 345 



On the 9th May, 1846, a troop-horse returned to Hyde Park 

 Barracks from Putney Heath, after performing his part in a field- 

 day there, lame in one hind leg. At the time, the lameness 

 seemed to arise from sprain of the fetlock joint ; next day, how- 

 ever, the cause manifested itself to be sprain of the sheath of the 

 tendon of the flexor metatarsi, at least of that division of the ten- 

 don which crosses over the bend of the hock from the outer to the 

 inner side to be inserted into the head of the internal metatarsal 

 bone. There had arisen a puffy elastic swelling upon the part, 

 hot to the feel, and so tender to the least pressure, that the horse 

 caught his leg up every time it was touched with the hand, and 

 was very averse to having it squeezed or compressed. 



The Treatment pursued consisted in fomentation and physic, 

 and bandaging as far as was, in a part so inconveniently situated, 

 possible ; avoiding putting on a thick or high-heeled shoe, since 

 this would have put the muscle affected on the stretch instead of 

 relaxing it. In such a case the heel cannot be too much lowered, 

 and therefore a tip would be preferable to even a plain shoe. 

 Eight days after his admission the horse was rendered sound, 

 and returned to his duty. Five weeks afterwards, however, he 

 became lame again, and was then blistered ; and as soon as the 

 first blister had worked off, the lameness, though abated, conti- 

 nuing, he was blistered a second time; and after that, a third 

 time, before soundness in the action of the limb was perfectly 

 restored. There remained afterwards, as might have been anti- 

 cipated, solid tumefaction in the nerve of the tendon, which, 

 though in time action might diminish, seemed likely in some 

 degree to be permanent. There is more than the usual quantity 

 of cellular tissue connected with this tendon in its sheath, and 

 this will account for the unusual degree of inflammation accom- 

 panying the lesion, as well as for the solid deposit which com- 

 monly ensues. 



VOL. IV Y Y 



