138 
PATHOLOGY OF STRINGHALT. 
deep;” it should read “fissure/' which will explain the 
difference between European and American synovial tissue, 
and might have been detected as a typographical error by 
Mr. Fleming, had his “ imagination been lively enough,” or 
his “ knowledge of anatomy less profound.” 
I am, 
Yours, &c. 
To the Editors of the ‘ Veterinarian .’ 
REPLY TO DR BUSTEED’S LETTER, BY PROFESSOR 
VARNELL. 
Through the courtesy of the editors of the Veterinarian , I 
was enabled to peruse the foregoing letter prior to its publi¬ 
cation, and have been thereby afforded the opportunity of 
furnishing a reply without the usual interval of a month's 
delay. I think no one, after having read Dr. Busteed's 
paper, will doubt the propriety of my defending the state¬ 
ments that I made in my former communication, both in 
reference to the doctor's ideas of the cause of stringlialt, as 
also of those he had expressed with regard to the views enter¬ 
tained on the subject by certain English pathologists. From 
the doctor's remarks generally, and from the host of books 
he has thought proper to refer to, it might be thought that 
I was wholly ignorant of the views entertained in respect to 
structural and pathological anatomy, the nature of an ulcer, or 
the congenital peculiarities often met with in normal anatomy. 
Pathological anatomy, like normal anatomy, cannot be 
learned from books alone, however many a man may possess, 
or in whatever language they may be written. Nor can the 
symptoms of pathological lesions be rightly interpreted except¬ 
ing by long and careful observation, aided by a knowledge 
of both these divisions of science. To this I have no doubt 
Dr. Busteed will assent, and will feel with me that our object 
in discussing matters of pathology should be, as far as pos¬ 
sible, to further the ends of medical science, whether human 
or comparative. 
The doctor says, after referring to a long list of books, “ I 
could not be ignorant that ulceration of the articulation of 
the astragalus was known to the profession.'' To this I 
reply that I never for a moment supposed that he was, for 
ulceration of this bone, as well as of others, will occasionally 
exist. He goes on to say, “ It was not the existence of the 
