5*20 
ON IDIOPATHIC DISEASE OF THE TENDONS. 
By Mr, Hugh Ferguson, London, 
Those parts of tendons that have a demi-cartilaginous cha¬ 
racter, and are inclosed in synovial thecae, are subject to a degene¬ 
ration of structure accompanied by a loss of substance, of which, 
I believe, no veterinary author has taken any notice. 
The lesion to which I allude results from an absorption of 
the cellular tissue uniting the fibres of the tendon together, and 
also of some of the fibrous structure itself. It is more frequently 
met with in the horse than in any other of our domestic ani¬ 
mals, and in the old and debilitated subject oftener than in the 
young and robust one. I have, however, more than once, seen 
it in horses under five years of age. 
On examining those portions of the tendon of the epicondilo- 
phalangeiis {flexor pedis perforans of Percivall) that are situated in 
the thecrn, posterior to the carpal and metacarpo-phalangean 
articulations, I have at different times, found a cavity varying 
much in size, and occupying the body of the tendon. It ge¬ 
nerally communicated by a long slit or aperture with the inte¬ 
rior of the theca, and contained a quantity of tendinous shreds 
of various lengths, which, from their shape and manner of being 
coiled together, might easily be mistaken for a number of long 
thin yellow worms. Indeed, on shewing them to a very celebrated 
French veterinarian and anatomist, he immediately and unhesi¬ 
tatingly pronounced them to be parasites. I have observed, on 
making transverse sections of tendons thus affected, that the 
cavity generally extends some little way both above and below 
its opening into the theca. There was no increase of vascularity, 
excepting where the theca was also diseased. 
Having met with these lesions in some cases where the animal 
had never evinced any symptoms indicating the existence of dis¬ 
ease in the part affected, I am inclined to believe that their for¬ 
mation is unattended by any thing approaching to inflammation. 
Nevertheless, I doubt not that they are extremely susceptible of 
being seriously affected by any inflammatory action which may 
be set up in the theca, whether by accident, over-exertion, or 
any other cause. I can readily conceive the possibility of some 
of the little tendinous shreds escaping from the cavity in the 
tendon into that of the synovial theca, and there, acting as a 
foreign body, causing inflammation, even of the most intense 
character. This, however, is merely hypothesis. 
I recollect dissecting the fore extremity of an old carriage horse. 
