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SOCIETY MEETINGS. 
structure to complete rupture, or they may be severed by cut¬ 
ting instruments or fence wire, or the contractile power of the 
muscular fibres destroyed by bruises. 
Symptoms .—The symptoms are so marked that once seen 
they will never be forgotten. If the animal be standing on the 
affected limb when you observe him, you will not detect any 
unsound ness, provided no external lesions exist, but the moment 
this weight is shifted from the foot it is drawn backwards, the 
tarsus being extended on the tibia by contraction of the gastroc¬ 
nemius, which is the opposing force to the flexor metatarsi, and 
as a result the tendons of these muscles above their attachment 
to the summit of the os calsis is greatly relaxed, so much so that 
the skin of the region is corrugated or thrown into folds, and 
should you first see him in this position you could not help 
thinking the distal end of the tibia had sustained an oblique 
fracture, causing a shortening of the bone, but when you inspect 
it in its normal position, bearing its share of weight without de¬ 
formity, the thought of fracture will be dismissed. 
The next thought will most likely be directed to the tendo- 
achilles, but if we consider that this is the support of the pos¬ 
terior part of the hock and any inability on its part must allow 
the hock to drop down with tarsal flexion the instant weight is 
placed upon it, and no such symptoms are present, but, on the 
contrary, the hock supports the weight with its usual firmness, 
we must likewise banish from our minds the possibility of in¬ 
jury to this structure or to the muscles operating through it. 
After canceling these possibilities, we look deeper into onr case 
and readily perceive the inability to flex the metatarsus and tar¬ 
sus on the tibia, and, knowing that but one structure performs 
this function, we have proven beyond a doubt that the injury 
is to the flexor metatarsi. 
Percivall’s u Hippopathology,” Vol. IV, Part II, page 337, 
quotes from Solleysel a beautiful description of this accident, 
but he unfortunately ascribes it to the tendo-achilles and calls 
it the master sinew, but his description is so perfect I cannot 
resist the temptation to copy it. “This,” he says, “is the big¬ 
gest and most visible sinew in a horse’s body, which, by reason 
of a strain occasioned by hard riding, evil shoeing, going down 
a steep place, a slip or fall, or too heavy burden, may be relaxed, 
and sometimes disturbed with so much violence that it becomes 
movable like an unbent bow-string. When a horse walks, the 
leg seems to hang at the hough, because its motion is not reg¬ 
ulated by the master sinew ; and you would even sometimes 
