THE 
VETERINARIAN. 
VOL. XIX, No. 218. FEBRUARY 1846. New Series, No. 50. 
LAMENESS. 
By W. Percivall, M.R.C.S. 
[Continued from vol. xviii, p. 666.] 
BY way of appendage to the subject of “ Ulcerative Disease 
OF JOINTS,” we would say a few words in explanation of certain 
appearances which there is, we believe, little doubt, have on more 
than one occasion been set down to the account of ulceration. It 
cannot fail to have struck any person in the habit of dissecting 
joints, that frequently excavations are seen in the articular carti- 
lages, as though portions of them had been chiselled out, and that 
such appearances, simulating ulceration, are met with quite as 
commonly in sound joints as in unsound ones. The hock joint, 
more than any other, is notorious for presenting such excavations : 
in it they occur in these situations : — one of tolerabl} r large size 
in the middle of the groove running between the condyles of the 
astragalus ; another somewhat less upon the opposing surface of 
the middle projection of the tibia moving in this groove ; and a 
third, still less in dimensions, is often to be found at the anterior 
extremity of the said groove of the astragalus. These excavations 
are distinguishable from caries or ulceration of the cartilage — 
First, by the absence of all signs of inflammation ; — by being, on 
the contrary, found in joints displaying every aspect of health. 
Secondly, by their surfaces, instead of having an asperous feel, 
giving the finger, as it passes over them, the sensation of (though 
the surface may feel uneven) having had all its asperities rubbed 
off or worn down by friction. Thirdly, the cartilage or bone con- 
stituting the floor of these pits or hollows is found to have acquired 
a shining hardness and solidity of structure altogether different 
VOL. XIX. K 
