143 
OBSERVATIONS ON SOUNDNESS. 
By R. IT. Dyer, M.R.C.V.S., Waterford. 
{Continuedfrom p. 91.) 
WINDGALLS OR BURSAL TUMOURS. 
This affection has been from time immemorial, I believe, 
termed windgalls , from its being supposed that the bladders 
contained air or wind. Anatomists have given other and 
more surgical, as well as expressive, titles to these swellings, 
namely, bursal enlargements and ganglia. The latter term is 
open to objection, because it has a wide and somewhat 
foreign signification. The word ganglion is generally con¬ 
sidered to refer to an enlargement or swelling, or “ knot-like 
enlargement in the course of a nerve, &c. f this term, there¬ 
fore—although employed by members of the human 
profession when speaking to veterinarians with reference to 
such enlargements—is, as I have said, open to an objection, 
as it does not faithfully convey to persons the precise 
meaning of the word. I w r ould much prefer employing that 
which is less objectionable, and at the same time more 
expressive, i. e. tumefied bursae. The word windgall should 
never pass the lips of a surgeon. Nor, indeed, is the more 
modern term, bursa mucosa , less erroneous. Windgall, on the 
one hand, would lead us to infer that the sac contained air; 
secondly, the surgical and scientific one, ganglion, will indi¬ 
cate situation or course of a nerve ; and thirdly, bursa mucosa 
most positively relates to its containing mucus. It will, 
doubtless, be easily understood why each and every one of 
the above appellations should be abolished for ever from 
veterinary nosology. It has often been remarked that it 
matters but little what name a disease is known by, provided 
it be understood; but in this the nineteenth century surely 
such a word as windgall ought not to be found in any work 
on surgery. As I don't profess to be engaged in arranging 
such a work in the present instance, I shall not be expected 
to place before the readers of the Veterinarian a very 
elaborate paper upon the nature and treatment of these 
affections. I write affections, from the fact of bursal enlarge¬ 
ments being said to be found in many situations, under a 
variety of names, such as capped elbow, capped hock, 
bog-spavin, thorough-pin, &c., all of which have been con¬ 
sidered as one and the same disease. A description of the 
