FILARIOSIS OF THE SUSPENSORY LIGAMENT. 
263 
of 32 horses, of all ages, most of which were 15 to 20 years old, 
killed at the abattoirs, 26 were found affected with filaria most 
commonly on the four legs. 
Among the 6 healthy ones, 2 were four and a half and five 
years old, one seven, the others fourteen. Among the 26, one 
was five years, two were six years. The one five years old had 
the tendons healthy, but three ligaments out of four had para¬ 
sites. One of these ligaments had one of its bifurcations twice 
as big as the other. The horse of six years had the four liga¬ 
ments diseased, and, without being apparently bigger than nor¬ 
mal, were literally stuffed with filaria. 
Besides that series we have a number of other animals, 3 
donkeys and 9 mules, in which filaria were found in the sus¬ 
pensory ligament and also the perforatus tendon. This is the 
only case where we have found this organ diseased. 
To resume : out of 43 animals, horses, donkeys or mules, 
only 8 were found free of parasitism of the suspensory ligament 
—an average of 82 per cent. 
Severity of the Disease .—The severity of an affection of do¬ 
mestic animals, outside of the mortality that it may bring, de¬ 
pends on the functional disturbance it produces, and its greater 
or lesser facility of recovery. 
L,et us consider these two conditions :—Naturally one must 
heve a tendency to believe that so common an affection which 
has remained overlooked so long, cannot be serious. 
This would be correct if one was certain that errors have not 
been committed on the origin of diseases which must be related 
to it and for which other causes have been attributed. 
Unfortunately, this must have been the case in relation to 
certain blemishes of the extremities, tendinous or others, which 
ought to have been considered as due to the parasitic alterations 
of the suspensory ligament. 
Let us first consider the blemish of the suspensory ligament 
itself. 
We have found in our dissections about two-thirds of the lig¬ 
aments, diseased at various degrees, were evidently swollen. 
