PERONEAL TENOTOMY 211 



speculations by pathologists give the reader no positive in- 

 formation, and the closest observation on innumerable af- 

 fected subjects gives no clew to the nature or location of 

 the causative lesion. It is true that stringhalt often co-ex- 

 ists with definite abnormalities about the hock, foot, stifle or 

 hip, but the existence of similar abnormalities without this 

 involuntary excessive flexion, must, for the present at least, 

 leave some doubt as to whether they are the causative fac- 

 tors or not. The improvement of the symptom so often fol- 

 lowing the division of the peroneus tendon would indicate 

 that the seat of the lesion is not far from the hock or tibial 

 region, but the fact that peroneal tenotomy often fails and 

 that desmotomy of the internal patellar ligament is some- 

 times successful, shows beyond reasonable doubt that the 

 trouble is at times if not always, located above these regions. 



The disease is interpreted .differently by each investi- 

 gator. Bassi recognizes two forms, true and false string- 

 halt. The former he attributes to some abnormality about 

 the patella, and the latter to some definite lesion in the tar- 

 sal bones, fascia of the leg or extensor muscles. Contraction 

 of fascia at any point from the hip to the metatarsus, he sup- 

 poses, is the most likely lesion responsible for the faulty gait. 

 Moller differentiates between two forms also, but calls them 

 idiopathic and symptomatic stringhalt ; the latter when due 

 to a perceptible cause, and the former when the cause is 

 obscure. Hughes divides stringhalt into true stringhalt and 

 chorea. He applies the former designation to those cases in 

 which the flexion is constant, that is, more or less pro- 

 nounced at every step ; and the latter to those which only 

 show the symptom when first backed out of the stall, or 

 when first started up after a moment of rest. The theories 

 of different veterinarians .might be repeated ad infinitum 

 without finding two of them similar, which fact clearly 

 exemplifies the mysteriousness of the condition. 



It is, however, probable that stringhalt very often is a 

 symptom of some lesion of, or is closely related to, the great 

 fascia that envelope the pelvic limb. Speculations on the 

 nature of disease, varying from neuroses of the spinal cord 

 to definite lesions in the foot, do not harmonize very well 

 with the striking uniformity of the manifestation. The 

 symptom, stringhalt, is characteristic and manifestly uniform 

 in every case. The variation in different cases is one of 

 degree only. It is not very likely that this same sign,— 

 excessive flexion of the hock, — is caused by so many dis- 

 similar lesions. The sensible decision is that stringhalt is 



