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TENOTOMY. 
By W. Cooper, M.B.C.V.S., Berkhampstead. 
Sir, — YOUR account of Tenotomy in the last Number of The 
Veterinarian is extremely interesting. But my experience in 
that operation has convinced me that there is another cause (to 
which you have not adverted) frequently producing that deformity 
of limb, which may also prevent the operator from bringing the 
limb into its normal position after having divided both the per- 
forate and perforans tendons. I admit that the cause to which I 
allude is sometimes the effect only; still I feel assured that it is 
frequently the sole and primary seat of the affection, the tendons 
and the muscles becoming only secondarily involved. In illustra- 
tion of these views I will relate a case in point. 
A draught mare received the common accident of sprain just be- 
low the knee, followed by enlargement of the part, the seat of which 
is frequently in that accessory ligamentous slip, by some called 
the metacarpal ligament, situated between the flexor tendons and 
suspensory ligament. The case was neglected, and the mare kept 
at work for several months, until the leg became so crooked that 
she was quite incapacitated for any kind of labour. Tn this state 
she was sold for a trifling sum to Mr. Collier, of Chivery, near 
Wendover, and I operated upon her above the point where this 
ligamentous band is inserted into the tendon : such procedure 
giving me, in this instance, an opportunity of knowing the real 
seat of the affection. Having divided both tendons, I found the 
limb was still as rigid as before ; and finding no other cause to 
account for such anomaly, I examined the metacarpal ligament, 
which I found considerably thickened. This I determined to di- 
vide; and the effect was, that the limb directly came into its proper 
position without any force at all being applied. The animal being 
released, and the direction of the limb attended to by the usual 
means, she was put to work at the proper time, and has continued 
to do well up to the present period, being nearly two years since 
she was operated upon. 
I am quite aware that I should have succeeded in bringing the 
limb into its normal position had I divided the tendon below the 
insertion of the metacarpal ligament; still, in cases where this liga- 
ment is the primary seat, I think a division of it alone, if resorted 
to in time, might suffice, without going to such an extreme as that 
of carrying the incision through the tendons, 
I send this case simply to direct attention to the subject, and not 
with the remotest thought of dictating. My personal knowledge 
