HYDARTHROSIS., 563 
situated towards the middle of the anterior face of the knee between the 
extensor tendons; tense when the leg is at rest and simulating exostosis, 
they are soft and fluctuating when the leg is raised, unless their walls 
are indurated or calcified. As to the carpo-metacarpal synovial, nar- 
rowly supported by the ligaments surrounding it, it can be the seat of no 
distension visible externally. 
The radio-carpal hydarthrosis, by far the most frequent, is well char- 
acterized by the tumor resulting from the dilatation of its external cul- 
de-sac ; that produced by the distension of the carpal tendinous sheath, 
less circumscribed and situated more backwards, alongside the deep 
flexor of.the phalanges, co-exists with an elongated, cylindrical tumor, 
‘which occupies the superior third of the cannon and ‘surrounds the 
tendons. It is easy to differentiate the intercarpal hydarthrosis from 
the dropsies of the sheaths of the tendons, which are more superficial 
and elongated in the axis of the leg. For the hygroma of the knee, its 
situation is subcutaneous. 
It is again with blisterings and firing, sometimes also by puncture, 
that those hydarthrosis are treated. The radio-carpal: hydarthrosis is 
more accessible to trocar, and the inter-carpal nodosities, less voluminous, 
‘disappear ordinarily with deep firing if applied early. ‘ 
In cattle, Latffite has proposed the use of injections of morphine and 
ergotine. But in those animals, as in horses, cauterization is the in- 
dication. 
LV.—Coxo-Femoral Joint. 
The large muscles which surround the hip-joint do not allow much 
dilatation of the synovial. However, Vitet and Rigot admit the exist- 
ence of this hydarthrosis. We have related the observation of Vitet, in 
which the relaxation of the joint by the accumulation of synovia was so 
marked that the head of the femur would slip out of the cotyloid cavity. 
The diagnosis of these lesions is difficult, exceptionally rare; they 
interest the anatomo-pathologist more than the practitioner. Sub- 
cutaneous firing \ would be the therapeutic means of choice. 
V.—Femoro-Tibio-Patellar Joint. —Patellar Thoroug, ohpin. 
The stifle joint has three synovials: one superior and two lateral. 
The first, very large, supported by the femoro-patellar capsula, helps 
the gliding of the patella upon the femoral pulley and extends in cul- 
de-sac under the insertion of the triceps cruralis. The two others, that. 
lubrify the articular surfaces of the femoro-tibial joint, line the posterior 
ligament, the laterals and the fibrous fasciculi that attach the menisci 
