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torn of it, is enlargement and tenderness. It is 

 not difficult to discover this^ even when the eye 

 is unable to perceive any sweUing. We cannot 

 assist our scrutiny in this case by actual measure- 

 ment, because the flat shape of the leg, and the 

 deep position of the injured part, may allow of 

 considerable enlargement, without any material 

 difference in the circumference of the healthy and 

 unsound limb ; but the feel of the tendon is too 

 peculiar to leave room for doubt. In the sound 

 limb, the tendon is well defined, perfectly distinct, 

 and has a tense, hard character, that resembles 

 the touch of a cord tightly strung. In the un- 

 sound leg, instead of the distinct perception of a 

 hard, ropy substance, the tendon is traced by the 

 finger with difficulty ; it is not easy to distinguish 

 it from the integuments that surround it. Though, 

 strictly speaking, the limbs do not correspond 

 either in structure or position, it is not incorrect to 

 say, that the tendon Achilles, in the human frame, 

 conveys an apposite idea both of the character 

 and use of the back sinew in the fore leg of a 

 horse ; at all events, a man who wishes to inform 

 himself of the peculiar feel of a sound and healthy 

 sinew, cannot do it better than by examining with 

 his finger and thumb, the hard, firm nature of that 

 tendon in himself. If, in passing his hand down 



