120 TRANSLATIONS FROM CONTINENTAL JOURNALS. 
In tlic moiitli of !May, 1801^ the operation was performed. 
The liorse being east on the lame and upper leg, the side being 
drawn up and fixed to the shoulder, the spavined leg was held 
by an assistant. At the inferior third of the inner surfaee of 
the hock, in the centre of the tumour, behind the saphena and 
at the supposed place of the course of the tendon, an incision 
was made in a vertical direction, about four centimetres in 
length, and rather deep, on account of the thickness of the 
skin and the fibrous degeneration of the cellular tissue, which 
even had become slightly infiltrated with phosphate of lime. 
This, no doubt, was solely the effect of the repeated appli¬ 
cation of the actual cautcr}^, which had been applied very 
deep and in points, so that it had caused adhesion and an 
organization of the adventitious element in the tissues. The 
skin and cellular tissue thus altered were so intimatelv 
united with each other, that it was impossible to separate 
them. The incision was made deeper with considerable diffi¬ 
culty, the fibrous tissue crepitating under the scalpel, but 
still the tendon could not be reached. Haemorrhage now 
supervened, through a small artery being divided, which 
incessantly filled the wound with blood, and which, in 
spite of all that was done to stop it, prevented the edges 
of the incision being examined, so as to ascertain the nature 
of the tissue incised. After having felt for the tendon 
amongst this indurated mass without finding it, the author 
thought of abandoning the further progress of the operation. 
It w^as, however, to be supposed that the tendon must be 
underneath this altered cellular tissue, in a sort of osseous 
sheath formed by it. He therefore took a double-edged, 
willow-leaf-shaped knife, having a strong blade, and using it 
with both hands he endeavoured to insert its point by giving 
strong pressure on the handle, and at the same time making 
an oscillating motion, and after great perseverance the blade 
was made to penetrate through this indurated substance to 
the depth of two centimetres, at which point a uniform 
resistance was met with. But there was still a doubt of a 
section of the tendon having been effected, which, however, 
from the depth to which the knife had penetrated, ought to 
have been the case. So, thinking that the tendon might still 
be in a deep, narrow sheath, and that the knife might not 
have reached it, the author repeated the previous manipu¬ 
lation, and achieved a section, which, though only fictitious 
at the time of the operation, ought to have been definite. 
"When I cast the horse (the author goes on to state) I 
expected to perform the operation according to the rules laid 
down by M. Lafosse, that is, incision of the skin and cellular 
