450 revip:w —iiiGOT’s articulations of thk horse. 
Nevertheless, we cannot dismiss the subject without bringing 
forward some evidence both pro and con, Bedard, in his 
Elemens d’Anatomie generale, as also does Bichat in one of 
his works, advances as a proof of the diarthrodial cartilages 
receiving over their surface a reflection of synovial membrane, 
precisely the same argument that Gendrin, Cruvelhier, Dela- 
fond, Rigot and many others use in endeavouring to prove 
quite the contrary; namely, the phenomena attending articular 
inflammation. Bichat states, that in inflammation of this mem¬ 
brane, when redness becomes visible, it extends on the circum¬ 
ference of the cartilage, but that it is less and less marked as it 
advances towards the centre—the membrane there identifying 
itself more and more with the cartilage ; and that the cartilage 
is not coloured excepting at its surface. The same author also 
mentions, that that kind of degeneration of the synovial membrane 
commonly called fungoid, evinces itself equally on the carti¬ 
lages as on the internal surface of the capsular ligament. Mayo, 
in his Elements of Physiology, says, that he has one preparation 
in which he accidentally succeeded in raising an uniform mem¬ 
brane from the cartilage covering the head of the humerus. In 
his work on pathology, he remarks, that where the synovial mem¬ 
brane is reflected over the cartilage, it is liable to become slightly 
thickened, opaque, easily separable from the cartilage, elastic, 
and brittle; and that, in one instance, he had seen it for a 
small extent thickened, firm, white and soft on the patella, in 
connexion with sensible vascularity elsewhere on the patella and 
semilunar cartilages.” 
That the appearances described by both Mayo and Bichat are 
frequently met with in diseased diarthrodeal articulations, we do 
not for a moment deny; on the contrary, they are confirmed by 
our own observations of them. Nevertheless, we hesitate to con¬ 
cur with them in thinking such evidence sufficiently strong 
to prove the existence of a membrane covering the cartilages of a 
perfectly healthy articulation. We have never met with any 
membrane which was separable from the cartilage, that, on minute 
examination, we did not consider as an adventitious production. 
Often have we tried to demonstrate its existence in the healthy 
joint, but our efforts have invariably proved unsuccessful. In 
cases of open joints, it might reasonably be expected to find some 
trace of a membrane on the cartilage did there one exist; but we 
have never been enabled to detect any thing of the kind, except¬ 
ing that which was evidently accidental. 
In all the works of veterinary anatomy, both ancient and 
modern, excepting the one now before us, in treating on the 
stifle-joint, the writers describe three synovial cavities perfectly 
