156 PARTIAL DIVISION OF TENDO PERFORATUS, ETC. 
been much too long, but my experience in tenotomy convinces 
me that this newly-formed portion would, in the process of 
time, have contracted at least two thirds of its length of the 
tendon. And as the bruised state of the fibres, in con¬ 
sequence of the rough way they were divided, would become 
detached for a short but indefinite distance, and eventually 
removed, we may suppose that when consolidation and con¬ 
traction had fully taken place, the tendons would have been 
very little too long; and after a time, perhaps, by kind treat¬ 
ment of the animal and careful management, a high-heel 
shoe might have been placed on the foot, which, doubtless, 
would have favoured the shortening process. 
The movement between the two tendons, when in a normal 
condition, is but very little at this part of their course, but 
whatever it may be, it would have been impeded by such 
lesions as the above, and therefore it must have caused slight 
defective action of the leg. Nevertheless for slow r work this 
defect would not have materially interfered with the useful¬ 
ness of the animal. 
The advisability of casting the horse under the circum¬ 
stances alluded to by Mr. Bray, could best be determined 
by him. If a small portion of one of the tendons remained 
undivided at the time he first examined the wound, it should, 
if possible, have been preserved, as it would have tended to 
some extent to prevent the retraction of the tendons. But 
I have no doubt it eventually yielded to the stress thrown 
upon it, as there is no indication of its existence in the speci¬ 
men. Perfect rest, and the approximation of the divided ends of 
the tendons, by the application of such means as would tend to 
keep them near to each other, would have been most desirable. 
If this could not have been accomplished without a risk, then 
such means only as could have been used with safety should 
have been resorted to; which I dare to say was the case. 
Taking a retrospective view of the case, as described to 
me, and also judging of the nature of the lesion by the spe¬ 
cimen sent, I cannot but think that the horse ought not to 
have been destroyed. Still the veterinary surgeon who ad¬ 
vised such a course to be taken, might have had reasons for 
so doing that I am not in possession of. All I know of the 
case, and the collateral circumstances connected with it, are 
from Mr. Bray's description, and from this, I have come to 
the conclusion that the horse might have become fit for 
moderately slow work, in from three to four months from the 
time the accident occurred, had all gone on favorably. 
The four questions propounded by Mr. Bray, are answered 
in the substance of the remarks I have made. 
