478 RUPTURE OF THE TIBIALIS ANTICUS^. 
siou, that small doses of purgative medicines, combined with 
stimulants, &c., are decidedly the best means of meeting these 
stomach complaints. I can readily conceive that they may oc¬ 
casionally be sufficient, because we well know that there are 
many cases of the kind in which nature succeeds effectually by 
natural purgation alone; but whoever hopes by these means to 
effect a cure in severe cases, will be most wofully disappointed. 
1 dare not depend on any thing short of strong purgatives^ such 
as 1 described in a previous paper on the subject; and I again 
assert, that there is not that danger of superpurgation in the cow 
as in the horse (the remedies are more certain and more easily 
applied); and though 1 can call to mind, with pain, many cases 
in which I have failed from want of applying stronger remedies^ 
I cannot recollect a single instance of having lost one case from 
superpurgation. 
Quantity, as applied to medicine, is only a relative term. Every 
one knows that a dose of aloes, which would be quite sufficient 
to purge a horse under ordinary circumstances, would be alto¬ 
gether insufficient in a violent case of stomach-staggers ; and in 
a state equally inert is the rumen and reticulum of the cow, 
under such circumstances as we have been contemplating ; and 
if we would succeed, we must use means equally vigorous and 
decisive, as we should do with the horse in stomach-staggers. I 
say again, in such cases, spare not strong purgatives, but guard 
them bv tonics and stimulants, and carefully watch their effects. 
A CASE OF THE SUCCESSFUL TREATMENT OF RUP¬ 
TURE OF THE TENDON OF THE TIBIALIS ANTI- 
CUS MUSCLE. 
Bi/ Mr, W. Dickson, F.6\, Millerstain, N.B. 
On the 12th of August last, a farm horse, belonging to G. 
Baillie, Esq., of Mellerstain, while going in the chains of a cart 
loaded with hay, irritated by the flies, kicked over the chains, 
and so entangled himself, that before he was extricated he com¬ 
pletely divided, by friction against the chains, the tendon of the 
tibialus anticus, about four inches above the hock, and conse¬ 
quently was deprived of the power of flexing the hock-joint. The 
leg was, when he moved, dragged after him with the appearance 
of being paralyzed ; and the tendons of the gastrocnemii 
muscles, being completely relaxed, gave the limb the appearance 
of a fracture of the tibia. The wound was transversely across 
the leg, and, from the instrument by which it was inflicted, was 
much lacerated, and a portion of the tendon protruded about 
2\ inches from the wound. 
