DIVISION OF THE FLEXOR TENDONS. 309 
that the young men brought forward on that occasion acquitted 
themselves generally in a very satisfactory manner; I think highly 
creditable to the school. 
At this examination I was very much gratified by seeing Mr. 
Ferguson of Woodhill presiding ; one of the members of the 
Highland Society, and one of the warmest and most zealous 
friends that veterinary medicine has met with in Scotland : him¬ 
self a man of almost universal information, he is at once the 
ornament of the agriculture of his country, and the most active 
promoter of every kind of useful knowledge . One warm advo¬ 
cate and patron like this is worth a whole lane full oj lukewarm 
friends. 
Mr. Dick’s pupils have the advantage of seeing his practice, 
which is very considerable in the town of Edinburgh ; and whilst 
there, I had an opportunity myself of witnessing an operation of 
which much has been said, I mean that of dividing the flexor 
tendons of the leg (the perforatus and perforans.) This rather 
startling operation I saw very neatly performed by Mr. Dick ; 
and I confess I should have been one of those not much inclined 
to believe that it could answer any good or useful purpose, had I 
not seen it with my own eyes. It is, I say, a startling fact; but 
then it is so, and there is no reasoning against facts; nor does it 
appear to be a proceeding by any means attended with the dan¬ 
gerous consequences one would naturally apprehend. Mr. Dick’s 
father occasionally practised this operation many years ago ; and 
I have heard it said, but I know not how far that may be correct, 
some other person in Scotland. But we may venture to say, who¬ 
ever was tl e first to propose or to put such a measure into exe¬ 
cution, was not deterred from it by any great knowledge of ana¬ 
tomy, or any considerable refinement of science. The Professor 
would scarcely have thought of venturing upon this operation, if 
his father had not done it before him. The subject I saw him 
perform upon was a grey cart-horse, belonging, I believe, to a 
poor man in Edinburgh. He was not more than seven or eight 
years old, apparently very strong and vigorous, but such a cripple 
as to be quite useless, I think, for any purpose whatever, in con¬ 
sequence of the crooked state of the off fore leg; having the pas¬ 
tern joint of that limb permanently doubled forward, fixed and 
motionless, in such a manner that he walked entirely upon his 
toe: and this appeared to have originated from an injury of the 
auxiliary ligament. There was a considerable thickening still to 
be felt over the tendons a little way below the knee. This de¬ 
formed state of the limb had been going on gradually increasing 
for the last year and a half; and now, the joint being quite fixed 
von. hi. t t 
