TRANSLATIONS FROM CONTINENTAL JOURNALS. 119 
cuneian brancli of the flexor metatarsi musele. This branch 
arises from the fleshy part of the muscle^ separates from the 
inserting tendon about the middle of the anterior part of the 
iiockj passes obliquely towards its inner surface and over the 
synovial capsule of the tibio-astragulus articulation, then a 
little inwards and backwards under the saphena vein, which 
it crosses, and runs into a groove, resting partly on the 
cuneiform magnum and partly on the cuneiform medium, 
and is spread over and inserted into the cuneiform parvum. 
In the natural state this tendon has a normal looseness, but 
when an exostosis is produced underneath it, as is generally 
the case in bone spavin, the result is that the tendon is gra¬ 
dually raised by the increased deposit of bone, and conse¬ 
quently the tension becomes painful. This tension is so 
strong as to prevent a deposition of bone under it, which is 
consequently deposited on the sides of the groove, which is 
thereby rendered deeper in proportion as the sides become 
more elevated. It is thus not extraordinary to And many 
spavins which have, at the spot where the tendon of the cuneian 
branch of this muscle passes, a deep depression, which seems 
to divide the hock into two halves. Sometimes the inflam¬ 
mation is more or less traumatic of the ligaments, tendons, 
and the sheaths of the tendons, which may cause infiltrations 
and depositions of phosphate of lime in the subcutaneous 
cellular tissue, until it forms a sort of covering to the last- 
mentioned organs, almost always leaving them just enough 
freedom of motion to impede their function. These bony 
sheaths are always smooth on their inner surface, although 
the periosteum by which they are formed is found, when 
macerated, to 'he covered with small, sharp, osseous points, 
like needles, or, but more rarely, like pumice-stone. Accord¬ 
ingly spavin may emanate either from the substance of the 
cuneiform and the metatarsal bones, or at least from their 
articulatory surfaces, or otherwise it may be the result of 
the above-mentioned periostic infiltration, but sometimes it 
is the effect of the coexistence of these two pathological 
conditions; the osseous infiltration into the cellular tissue, when 
it exists by itself, moulding its shape, as has been stated above, 
to the ligaments and tendons, so as not to impede their 
action, unless it is very largely developed, which it would 
be in anchylosis. The latter state, however, does not indicate 
the section of the cuneian tendon, this being only admissible 
when the exostosis proceeds from the tarsal or metatarsal 
bones. When there is a complication of the two alterations 
existing at the same time, the operation might still he indicated, 
but subject to modification, as will be shown in this instance, 
