508 
SHOULDER LAMENESS. 
ness then, is a general term, and denotes no more respecting the 
intrinsic nature or seat of any disease in the shoulder, than the 
term “foot lameness ” does with regard to disease in parts com- 
posing the foot. In your systematic article I was anxious to have 
seen clearly pointed out, not only the difference between symptom 
disease, bwi likewise, what is essentially important, the varieties 
of morbid conditions to which the shoulder is known to be liable. 
The fibro-cartilaginous pad of the flexor brachii, where the 
tendon of that muscle passes by means of a synovial bursa over 
the articular tubercles of the humerus, is a common (and perhaps 
the most common) seat of shoulder lameness. Some cases of this 
kind are of a comparatively trivial nature ; but, in the dissection of 
others of a more aggravated character, the tendon has been found 
abraded on its synovial surface, and its fibres raised even into 
shreds, from friction against the diseased articular cartilage or ex- 
posed cancellated structure of the opposing bone. The symptoms 
of “ shoulder wrench,” given by Solleysell, are pretty correct as 
far as they go, when applied to this affection in its ordinary or 
milder forms ; but additional symptoms may be enumerated, as de- 
tectible by manual examination and otherwise, which will mate- 
rially assist us in arriving at a correct diagnosis. 
Another kind of “ shoulder lameness” occurring within the 
capsular ligament is found connected with abrasion or absorption 
more or less extensive of the articular cartilages of the joint, and 
sometimes with abrasion or even caries of the bones. The cap- 
sular ligament being remarkably capacious, becomes distended by 
the increased amount of altered synovia which accumulates in its 
interior, and also not unfrequently thickly coated with lymph on 
its synovial surface. The symptoms of this form of disease differ, 
in some degree, from those indicating sprain of the flexor brachii, 
and, from the uniformly serious character of the affection they 
denote, are, I think, deserving of mention in a treatise on “ shoulder 
lameness.” 
Again, we have a disease called “ shoulder slip,” which is far 
from being of unfrequent occurrence, and the lameness attendant 
upon it differs from that accompanying either of the morbid con- 
ditions already noticed. It often occurs in young draught horses 
when first put to work, especially in those used for the plough; 
and the off-side horse is most likely to suffer, from the writhing 
way in which he steps in and out of the furrow before he becomes 
accustomed to his proper step. It is an affection, however, some- 
times found in other horses, and consists essentially in rupture of 
the muscular and tendinous fibres passing from the dorsum of the 
scapula to the outer part of the head of the humerus. In the first 
instance, it is usually accompanied by some swelling ; this, how- 
