fibro-vascular tumour in the bladder. 379 
variable amount of contractile tissue, which is not the case 
with articular ligaments. The two functions possessed by 
this ligament, although very slight, yet if destroyed even to 
a small extent by disease, would predispose to such lesions as 
were observed in the bones above alluded to. And such may 
have been the predisposing or remote causes. 
We have next to take into consideration the immediate 
cause, or even causes—for I can suppose there may have been 
more than one—in operation. At any rate, one cause is ob¬ 
vious enough, and cannot be questioned, viz., the exertion 
the horse was put to. Added to this, and which is decidedly 
more direct, is the probability of his having made what is 
sometimes termed “ a false step/ 5 or an unconscious move¬ 
ment, whereby the whole weight would be suddenly thrown 
upon the bones and ligaments, which, if impaired by disease, 
would under such circumstances be very likely to give way. 
Such seems to me to be an explanation, imperfect though it 
is, of the cause of the fracture of the sesamoid bones in this 
particular instance. 
CASE OF FIBRO-VASCULAR TUMOUR IN THE 
BLADDER OF A COW. 
By Bamfield Kettle, M.R.C.V.S., Market Drayton. 
Believing that you take a strong interest in morbid 
anatomy, I forwarded to you by train, a day or two since, 
the kidneys and bladder of a cow r , promising that very 
shortly l would furnish you with the history of the case. 
This I now do, but I fear you will find it too brief and im¬ 
perfect. 
The cow in question was the property of Mr. G. Minor, of 
Morton Hall, four miles from this town. My pupil, Mr. E. 
Meek, saw her for the first time on Friday, the 19 th March, 
when her owner informed him that she had been bad from 
the time she came into his possession, twelve months since, 
and that during this somewhat protracted period she had 
been constantly passing “red water” and that, believing 
her to be suffering from this disease, he had exhausted 
his medical knowledge in attempting to arrest its progress 
by trying everything he himself knew, or had heard recom¬ 
mended, without, however, succeeding. She had calved 
about a fortnight prior to the visit of my pupil, and up to 
