In the pig the tendon divides into four tendons destined for the four digits.
In the ox there are but two tendons.
In the horse the tendon is single.
As their names indicate, these muscles, both superficial and deep, flex the digits. In addition to this, they flex the hand on the forearm.
We mentioned above that certain details relative to the superficial flexor must be analyzed in a special way. We now add that this should also be done with regard to the deep flexor. The point in question is the arrangement which the tendons of these muscles present at the level of the palmar region of the hand.
It is easy, in the case of the dog or the cat, to picture to one’s self this arrangement, especially if we recollect that which exists in the human species. The tendons of the flexors are placed on a kind of muscular bed formed by the union of the muscles of the region, but, moreover, from the point of view of external form, these tendons are not of very great importance.
But in the ox and the horse it is quite otherwise. From the simplification of the skeleton of the hand, and the reduction of the number of movements which the bones that form it are able to execute, there naturally results a diminution of its muscular apparatus. Apart from the existence of muscular vestiges of but little importance, we can say that, in reality, the hand does not possess any muscles. On its palmar aspect are found only the tendons of the flexors of the digits, and as these tendons are large, and the hand long, they give origin to external forms which it is necessary to examine.
Fig. 79.—Left Anterior Limb of the Horse: External Aspect.