LECTURES AND ESSAYS. 467 



were resorted to to remove the enlargement — such, for instance, as thumping 

 it with a hammer, or rubbing it violently with a stick or polished bone, and 

 even boring the substance with a gimlet. These remedies, if not carried to 

 the extreme, somtimes effected a cure, but oftener — especially the boring — 

 left matters worse than they were before. But whatever form of treatment 

 is to be adopted, the operator must first of all take into consideration what 

 he wishes to accomplish, and then resort to those means which are best cal- 

 culated to suit the purpose. For instance, in those cases which are rapidly 

 forming, and the object being to relieve the pressure upon the tumor, the 

 operation of "periosteotomy" ! (a very formidable name for a very simple 

 operation) is often performed with marked beneficial results, and instanta- 

 neous relief given. The operation consists in making a transverse incision 

 immediately underneath the enlargement and through the skin; an instru- 

 ment for the purpose is then passed between the skin and the bone and the 

 covering of the latter divided. The lips of the wound should now be brought 

 together and treated as an ordinary wound. In many cases of this kind 

 relief may be obtained by several hours' steeping in warm water, by which 

 means the risk of an operation is evaded and there is no possible risk 

 of a blemish, provided the water is not hot. It should not be warmer 

 than can be borne by the hand. The temperature should be kept up by 

 renewals of hot water. This may be followed by a blister ; sometimes setons 

 are used, but they are more liable to leave a slight blemish than the blister. 

 Often firing is resorted to, but in ordinary cases is perhaps rather a severe 

 mode of treatment. A blister of the biniodide of mercury applied in the 

 usual way acts well, when this form of treatment is determined upon, or 

 even two may be required. 



Bone-Spavin. 



In speaking of this disease it may be well to mention, in the first place, 

 that there are three kinds of spavin, which, however, are separate and 

 distinct maladies, differing from one another in almost every particular, 

 even the structures involved belonging to different systems of the animal 

 economy. When horsemen speak of spavin without qualification, they mean 

 bone-spavin ; but when the other two kinds are referred to, they are qualified 

 by the adjectives, bog or blood, as the case may be. So, in future reference 

 to the disease now under consideration, it will be called simply spavin. As 

 a disease, it gives rise to more trouble and annoyance than probably any 

 other disease of the hind leg, being perhaps a more frequent source of lame- 

 ness than any of the others, and in most instances very intractable to 

 remedial agents, so much so that some experienced persons look upon it as 

 a "bugbear" in horseflesh. In a thoroughly established case it is an incur- 

 able complaint, although in many instances the lameness may be entirely 

 removed, and that is thought to be a cure by those who are not conversant 

 with the changes which take place in the structures involved, while the so- 

 called curative remedies are being applied. In many respects this is one of 

 the most interesting lamenesses brought under our notice, and one which, if 

 proper judgment is exercised, will reflect credit upon the operator, not only 

 in the treatment of the complaint, but in the condemnation of those horses 

 which are likely to become affected. In such a brief description of the 

 malady as this, only those prominent features which are of popular interest 

 will be dwelt upon. 



