590 STRING-HALT-ITS DOUBTFUL PATHOLOGY. 
tions in comparative patliology, especially if he be assisted by 
an intelligent veterinary surgeon. Therefore^ while I con¬ 
sider the obligations are, to a great extent, mutual, I feel 
nevertheless confident that by such associations the status 
of our profession is materially enhanced in a social point of 
view. 
In the New York newspaper {Wilks^ Spirit, of August 1st, 
1863), which I have just received I find a column and a 
half occupied with some remarks on string-halt,^^ by Dr. 
Busteed, a practitioner of human medicine in that city. 
Now, I cannot but congratulate the veterinary surgeons of 
New York and its vicinity, in having those amongst them 
belonging to the sister profession who, from their education 
and long and careful training in scientific research, are able 
to afford so much valuable assistance. 
I have set myself the task of briefly analysing the remarks 
the doctor has made on the pathology of string-haltalso 
of showing, as far as I am able, to what extent the English 
pathologists to whom he has alluded are correct, and to 
inquire if the theory he has propounded with regard to the 
cause of this affection wall stand the test of criticism. 
In the first place, the doctor states, “ That his observations 
do not agree with those of Professor Spooner, or the views 
entertained by Percivall, Youatt, or Goodwdn; all these gen¬ 
tlemen attributing this disease to an abnormal condition 
of the vertebrae, medulla-spinalis, the sciatic nerve, or its 
coverings 
Dr. Busteed does not state how he came into possession of 
Professor Spooner^s opinion respecting the cause of string- 
halt, but I suppose he^must have obtained it from PercivalFs 
^ Hippopathology,^ vol. iv, page 387, in which is an extract 
from the Veterinarian of 1838, twenty-five years ago, con¬ 
taining the result of the dissection of a celebrated racehorse, 
named Guildford.'’^ Now, I contend that the only in¬ 
ference to be drawn from the remarks of Professor Spooner, 
in the extract referred to, is that string-halt depends upon 
an abnormal condition of the sciatic nerve. He does not, 
however, say Avhat may be the cause of this condition, nor its 
precise locality ; but I have no doubt that he considered that, 
to produce the effect, it might be at any part of this nerve, 
between its root in the spinal cord and its distribution in 
the muscles chiefly employed in causing the affection. This 
opinion, I think, he most likely entertains at the present 
time. With regard to the late Mr. PercivalTs views re¬ 
specting the cause and seat of string-halt, he says, at page 
385; vol. iv, of his ^ Ilippopathology,^ Those who suppose 
