132 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ZOOLOGICAL PATHOLOGY., 
II . — Elongation of or Irregularity in the Attachments of the Inter- 
articular Ligament, the Ligamentum Teres. 
Next to deficiency in the continuity and integrity of the capsu- 
lar ligament, may be classed those conditions of the joint in which 
there is found some preternatural elongation of, or irregularity in, 
the attachment of the round ligament : under such a state of parts, 
lameness to a greater or less extent must be a usual concomitant, 
on account of the increased play which the head of the thigh bone 
must possess, and its consequent tendency to spontaneous disloca- 
tion. Several cases are on record of individuals possessing the 
power of throwing out their hip-joint at pleasure, from their earliest 
years, and where no mechanical injury had ever been inflicted, so 
as to have given rise to it. Such cases, therefore, must be con- 
sidered as being dependent either on elongation of or misplace- 
ment in the attachment of the ligament ; for in the normal state of 
parts in the dead body, and when the capsular ligament has been 
cut all around, it is quite impossible to remove entirely the articular 
head of the thigh bone beyond the brim of the cotyloid cavity*. 
Many of the peripatetic professors of gymnastic antics have, by 
repeated and forcible abduction of the head of the bone, acquired 
the power of spontaneously dislocating it, or, at least, producing a 
state approaching very nearly to dislocation. The generality of 
anatomists and surgeons suppose that this power of preternatural 
abduction invariably depends on rupture of the inter-articular liga- 
ment at either of its attachments ; and others, again, incline to the 
opinion, that, in consequence of the looseness and increased length 
of the capsular ligament at its internal part, “jugglers are able to 
separate their legs, until they form right angles with their body, 
without producing dislocationt.” A careful examination, however, 
of several of these performers will soon satisfy the observer, that 
the extent of abduction which they individually possess varies 
very much, and is of two kinds. In one there will be found perfect 
abduction, the limb being carried outwards, in the direct external 
axis of the articulation ; and, in this case, rupture of the ligamen- 
tum teres does always exist. In another, along with abduction, 
there is eversion or inversion of the feet, with slight flexion of 
the limb accompanying it, the feet being carried somewhat forwards 
* I do not here refer to the experiment of the Webers, in reference to the 
influence of the pressure of the atmosphere, as being sufficient to keep the 
head of the thigh-bone in the air-tight acetabulum ; but to the possibility of 
removing, after the introduction of , air between the head of the thigh-bone 
and the cotyloid cavity, the rounded articular head, beyond the brim of the 
cotyloid cavity, whilst the ligumentum teres is of its normal length. 
f Cruveilhier’s Anatomy, vol. i, p. 206. London, 1841-43. 
