36 
SYMPTOMS AND CURE OF 
long or short duration, and yet exhibit lameness only in a slight 
degree. 
A horse that had never shown an hour’s lameness in his life 
leaves his stable in the morning perfectly sound, continues sound 
the greater part of his journey, and momentarily, without any 
apparent cause, drops violently lame : the rider as suddenly dis¬ 
mounts, with the impression that his horse has picked up a stone ; 
takes up his foot, but looks in vain for the stone, or any other 
cause to account for this visitation; and many instances will 
this recall where horses were never subsequently restored to a 
sound working condition. 
Such a lameness I conceive to be an. actual lesion or rupture 
of some part of the delicate synovial membrane; and although the 
opportunities are few of dissection of these cases of lameness, 
when recent, yet I think I have observed that which will warrant 
me in stating, that the membrane lining the tendon is more fre¬ 
quently the part first injured than the bone or its synovial cover¬ 
ing, the spot being generally within or very near the concavity in 
the tendon which receives the corresponding convexity of the navi¬ 
cular bone. But when the bone or its articular cartilage exhibits 
disease, it is invariably confined to that portion of the under sur¬ 
face of the navicular bone which is placed nearest the sensible 
frog, and is most apparent towards the middle of the convex ridge 
of that bone. 
From the facts that I have collected relative to groggy lame¬ 
ness, I am thoroughly convinced we have as much control over 
the early stage of this disease as we have over any less important 
organ when attacked with inflammation ; for, complex as this 
joint confessedly is, and although composed of materials such as 
tendon, ligament, and cartilage, parts not remarkable for inherent 
renovating qualities, still I am convinced they possess enough for 
our purpose, provided we promptly perform two offices. 
The first, and which is indispensable, consists in bleeding from 
the inflamed part till the quantity abstracted locally has affected 
the constitution generally. 
I should like to be informed whether this plan of combating 
with local diseases of the inflammatory kind is practised in human 
surgery—that of abstracting arterial blood locally till the heart 
and system generally are affected. 
I hope you will excuse the introduction of the following specu¬ 
lative remarks as to the modus operandi in this method of 
bleeding. 
When inflammation exists in the limb of anv animal to an 
«J 
alarming degree, it is not sufficient mcrelv to lessen the contents 
