o92 
SPONTANEOUS AND PARTIAL RUPTURE 
without colour or smell. Some slender bands, which passed from 
one side of this tumour to the other, appeared to me to be no¬ 
thing but the organized fibrine of some clots of blood originally 
extravasated there, as in the first case. 
We see, from what I have narrated, that, following the part of 
the muscle where these ruptures were produced, we may divide 
these lesions into those which are external and those which are 
internal; and this division, which is not arbitrary, since it is 
founded on the simple observation of facts, appears to me to re¬ 
sult from the different organization of the parts, the seat of these 
lesions. If we consult experience, we shall find that the slender 
muscles, which are destitute of that aponeurotic covering found 
in almost all the round and swelling ones, are always ruptured 
superficially; while in the others, the tendinous sheath, which 
adheres closely to the exterior fleshy fibres, opposes their lacera¬ 
tion, and only suffers the rupture to take place in the deeper 
seated parts. I believe this division to be the more important, 
because, in exterior ruptures, the cure, though slow, may never¬ 
theless be effected; while I consider the internal ruptures to be 
much less capable of cure, in proportion to the time that has 
elapsed after the accident. 
Admitting for a moment that a muscle may be ruptured in its 
centre, the first effect would indubitably be a wound in the in¬ 
terior of that muscle. It is also clear that there could not be 
a rupture of this nature, without that of a great many of the ca¬ 
pillary vessels and frequently of some very considerable branches. 
What then would be the result?—an effusion of blood into the 
cellular tissue which unites the fibres and the muscular fas¬ 
ciculi, as well as in the new unnatural space formed by the 
sudden retraction of the lacerated muscular fibres. This second 
effect would be the necessary consequence of the first. What 
would become of this blood ?—would it become organized in the 
cavity containing it, as is often the case in effusions of this 
nature ; or would it be again absorbed, as is quite as frequently 
observed? Both of these processes appear to unite in these 
kinds of lesions; for, as the former observations prove, these un¬ 
natural cysts contain either pure blood, or that which is coagulated 
and deprived of its colouring matter, and organized after the 
manner of false membranes. 
If we are now asked how these ruptures are effected, since 
the contractile power with which the muscle is endowed is con¬ 
stantly opposing itself to the lesion of its fibres, we may reply, 
that the unnatural direction in which the muscles are sometimes 
made to act, the isolated contraction of a muscle which has 
many auxiliary ones, or when this muscular action is sud¬ 
denly and involuntarily produced, may be causes of these lace- 
