WOUNDS. 28e 
legs. The plantar aponeurosis is frequently affected by a puncture wound 
of the foot ; the perforatus and perforans tendons are sometimes wounded 
at the canon or the fetlock by forks or other sharp bodies. At all times 
these lesions have been considered very serious; yet their rapid cicatriza- 
tion is possible. What makes them dangerous is the infectious condition 
of the injuring body ; if this does not deposit in the wound phlogogenous 
germs, there is only a temporary pain with production of a small fibrous 
nodule ; whichsoon disappears. Like Furlanetto, we have sometimes seen 
remaining at the point of the cicatrix a morbid sensibility, occasioning 
lameness of long duration. On the contrary, wounds made with soiled 
instruments have a serious prognosis ; too often they bring on acute sup- 
purative tenositis, at times complicated with synovitis. (See Zendinous 
Quittor.) 
Sharp or bruising bodies may produce longitudinal, oblique or trans- 
verse solutions of continuity of tendons. ‘Transverse section is primi- 
tively complete in some cases; in others, the sound fibres break under 
the weight of the body or of a powerful muscular contraction ; and again, 
a bruised, contused tendon may become the seat of a necrotic inflammation 
bringing on its complete rupture. Whether the division, however, is 
primitive or secondary, the final result is the same; peculiar functional 
disturbances appear in each tendon as soon as it ceases to fulfil its special 
part. The tendinous stumps are more or less apart ; the upper one, pulled 
by the muscular contraction, draws up within its sheath; the lower one 
does not obey any more the articular motion likely to displace it; and 
often the space which separates them is filled with bloody exudation. 
The treatment consists in disinfecting the wound, bringing the tendin- 
ous ends together and immobilizing the traumatic region. If the frag- 
ments of the tendons are close together and have but little tendency to 
become displaced, asepsis of the trauma, and a supporting bandage or a 
special apparatus to hold them in good position, will only be required. 
When the separation of the divided ends is well marked, it must be re- 
duced as much as possible by acting upon the tendon itself or by modi- 
fying the position of the bony levers. In some cases suture is to be used ; 
it gives excellent results in human surgery. 
For zenorraphy, silk or silkworm-gut is preferred. When apposition is 
possible, without great extension of the tendinous ends, ordinary suture is 
sufficient. Composed of parallel fasciculi separated by connective tissue, 
tendinous tissue cuts easily; therefore, when it is necessary to employ a 
certain traction to obtain juxtaposition, it is better to have recourse to the 
means uséd in human surgery. 
1. Mode of Le Fort: “Towards the border of the tendon (superior 
end), and from forward backward, a needle is introduced, carrying its 
