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78 VETERINARY SURGICAL THERAPEUTICS. 
Abilgaard and Garsault have localized it in the hock; they had noticed 
its appearance in spavined horses. Inone case Natté found on the articu- 
lar surfaces of the tibia and of the astragalus reddish erosions with irregu- 
lar borders. Busteed asserted that the hock was always the seat of spring- 
ghalt, and that it was due to ulcerations of the astragalus. Varnell and 
Flemming upset: that theory by saying that the American doctor had 
mistaken for an ulcer the synovial fossa of the trochlea of the astragalus ! 
Rigot, Rey and Leblanc have observed true alterations of the tibio-tarsal 
joint, changes in the synovia, lesions of the synovial membrane, articular 
foreign bodies, wearing and fissures of the articular surfaces. In horses 
that had springhalt in the fore legs Goubaux and Barrier have observed 
fissures on the humero-radial articular surfaces, and in others that had 
it on the hind legs they have seen similar lesions in the femoro-tibial, 
femoro-patellar and tibio-tarsal joints. The influence of these lesions 
seems small, however, when one considers that they may be found in 
animals free from the trouble, or even may not be found at all in subjects 
that are suffering from springhalt. The dryness of the articular and 
tendinous synovial burse of the hock, due to a disease of the spine, has 
been considered by Comény as connected with the manifestation of 
springhalt. Barrier says that the too wide opening of the tibio-tarsal 
angle is the cause of it. The hock is not the only joint which has 
been supposed to be the seat of the disease. VVillate, treating a lesion of 
the stifle joint in an animal that had springhalt, fired it; both diseases 
were relieved at the same time. Pastureau, Bassi, and Chuchu accused 
the stifle joint. Pastureau is of the opinion that springhalt and cramp 
in solipeds are but varieties, or two degrees of the same affection located 
in the femoro-patellar articulation, in which the internal femoro-patellar 
ligament, hooked on the inner border of the trochlea, plays a more or less 
important part. “If the hooking is incomplete, the flexor muscles en- 
tering into action meet a resistance readily overcome, to which succeeds a 
sudden flexion, convulsive like, carried to a greater extent than in normal 
state; hence the springhalt. If, on the contrary, the hooking is com- 
plete, the animal finds itself unable to flex the leg and the cramp exists.” ' 
Bassi and Chuchu have shown that it is not the internal femoro-patel- 
ler ligament which is hooked, but the patella itself, on account of a special 
disposition of the femoral trochlea. (See Pseudo Luxation of the Patella.) 
Many have attributed springhalt to muscular, tendinous or aponeurotic 
lesions. For Lafosse and Bourgelat it is a lesion of the flexor muscles of 
the tarsus or of the nerves distributed in it. Boccar and Brogniez think 
that it is on account of the shortening of the muscles of the anterior tibial 
regions. Brogniez is said to have produced it experimentally by placing 
