REVIEW. 
38 
Bracy Clark’s in 1809, it is evident that the merit of discovery 
of the said principle cannot rest with Clark. Not that we 
mean to contend that Coleman was its originator; for, if we did, 
we should shut out one who, we believe, holds superior claims 
still to it; and that is, Strickland Freeman; whose work, “On 
the Mechanism of the Horse’s Foot,” explaining “ its natural 
spring,” was published in 1796. We have not the work within 
our reach at this moment, but hope to have it before we shall 
have occasion to recur to the subject, and then will submit some 
quotations in elucidation of our expressed opinion and belief. 
[To be continued.] 
Foreign Department. 
ON DORSO-LUMBAR SPRAIN IN THE HORSE. 
By M. Arm. Goubaux, 
Professor of Anatomy and Physiology at the National Veterinary School at Alfort. 
DORSO-LUMBAR SPRAIN (known in England by the names 
of Swaying of the Back, Broken Back, Chinked Back, Ricket 
Back, German, &c.) is a simple stretching of the vertebral 
ligaments (intervertebral discs; common, superior, and inferior 
intervertebral ligaments,, &c.), or else a rupture of the inter¬ 
vertebral discs of the dorso-lumbar portion of the spine. This 
disease is still known (in France) by the name of straining or 
twist of the reins, and is characterised by a peculiar symptom 
called tour de bateau.* 
The Causes of sprained reins, or dorso-lumbar sprain, are 
divisible into predisposing and occasional. 
Horses are predisposed to it from their conformation, 
from having long or hollow backs; or from the kind of use that is 
made of them, such as shaft horses and baggage horses. Oxen 
used in the same manner are likewise subject to it. 
The Occasional or mechanical Causes, those which 
ordinarily give rise to sprained reins, may be arranged under 
three heads:—1. Pression exerted upon the vertebral chain by 
too weighty burthens. 2. Falls. 3. Muscular efforts. It will 
be necessary to shew 
The Mode of Action of each of these Causes. —Under 
the influence of pression, operating from above downward upon 
the dorso-lumbar portion of the spine, the posterior articular 
* The peculiar sinking or falling in of the back manifested in action, and in 
particular in turning. 
