24 Williams, Fisher, and Udall: The Spavin Group. 
clearly diagnosable as strain by immediate pain in the part fol- 
lowed by rapid inflammation, which tends finally to subside after 
rest, with thickening and weakening of the ligaments, and with- 
out exostosis or ostitis. 
In the anterior limb of the horse, the guardianship of the 
great flexor tendons over the articulations is well shown by the 
frequent strain or rupture of these structures, whereas in man, 
ithe feebly developed corresponding parts rarely suffer injury, 
which is instead borne by the bones and articulations. 
Upon examining the pelvic limb we observe an equally pro- 
nounced contrast in anatomical arrangement as related to strain 
so far as it is borne by the joints and bones or by the great 
musculo-tendonous apparatus. - 
In man the femur continues the spinal column in an approx- 
imately direct line, while in the horse it is directed abruptly 
forwards upon a horizontal spinal column, forming an angle 
opening forward, at once reversed at the knee where the femur 
and tibia are on a direct line in man. The great angle of the 
tarsus opening forward in the horse is highly efficient in ward- 
ing off lateral strain, while in man it is lost by the tarsus coming 
in contact with the ground. The entire limb of man is practically 
direct from the hip to the ground, and supports above the up- 
right spinal column, so that any violence of movement falls 
directly upon an unyielding, erect column, the bones and liga- 
ments of which must suffer, while in the horse the great angles. 
of the limb effectively ward off strain and throw it from the 
bony column upon the powerful musculo-tendonous apparatus 
which receives the shock and records the consequences in strains 
and ruptures of the great flexor tendons. (In this comparison 
we view as a tendon the so-called suspensory ligament of the 
fetlock, which contains muscle fibers, represents an active muscle 
in man, and is described as a muscle in the horse by various 
anatomists, especially the Germans, and properly belongs with 
the great flexor tendons whose functions and injuries it shares.) 
We must therefore conclude that both anatomically and clinic- 
ally man is preéminently disposed to strains and their finality,. 
luxations, or fractures, while in the horse the impact of trans- 
mitted violence falls upon the musculo-tendonous apparatus. 
We rarely see a luxation or dislocation from a strain in the 
limb of a horse except the foot becomes caught in a tramway 
or similarly firm place. Without anatomical evidence of liability 
