TRANSLATIONS FROM CONTINENTAL JOURNALS. 121 
tissue^ opening of tlie tendinous slieath^ elevating the tendon 
with the proper instrument^ and then making a transverse 
section of the tendon. In this case^ however^ the repeated 
cauterizations had thickened the cellular tissue, which was 
further hypertrophied, fibrionized, and in some parts ossified. 
The cuneian branch of the tendon was thus deeply-seated in a 
narrow groove or sheath, so that it was necessary to cut through 
this tough or hard layer, but without making too great a 
wound. I therefore made an incision in a perpendicular di¬ 
rection, deep and narrow, beyond which I deemed it dangerous 
to penetrate, as the greater resistance of the bones indicated 
the immediate neighbourhood of the articulation; I therefore 
concluded that the section of the tendon must have been ef¬ 
fected after having cut through the skin and this amalgamated 
tissue to the bone. After a slight dressing of the wound the 
patient was allowed to get up. The flexion of the hock was 
hardly perceptible; hut the leg had lost its stiffness^ the foot 
took a flat bearing on the ground, and there was no lowering 
of the hip when standing. The success was therefore com¬ 
plete. The author at first almost thought it an illusion, for 
he did not expect so prompt and so decided a result. He 
ordered cold water douches to be applied almost continually 
to the part, to prevent all complication of ostitis or arthritis, 
and at the end of a fortnight the tumour had more than 
doubled in size, without, however, causing any appreciable 
suffering to the patient; on the contrary, the weight was 
often borne on the lame leg. The healing of the wound now 
progressed favorably, and the edges were but slightly oedema- 
tous. The hypertrophy after the operation, is also men¬ 
tioned by M. Lafosse. Is it the result of the plastic infil¬ 
tration, or simply the expansion of the exostosis freed from 
the pressure of the tendon which bound it ? This last suppo¬ 
sition does not seem very likely. After three weeks more of 
the application of the douches, for two hours per diem, the 
cicatrix was level with the skin, and the tumour ceased to 
increase in size. The horse was now put to work. His action 
was regular j the spavined leg had all the suppleness of the 
other leg, and for a twelvemonth up to the present time, 14th 
of May, 1862, the horse has been continually kept at fast work ; 
the success of the operation cannot, therefore, be doubted. 
In a foot-note the author remarks that in the subcutaneous 
periosteotomy recommended and practised by the late Professor 
Sewell, and other veterinary surgeons after him, in spavin, they 
often must have divided the cuneian branch of the tendon, 
the essential cause of the lameness, without knowing it, which 
may go far to explain the success obtained by that operation. 
