442 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
We have said that splints are to be found on the inside of the leg. 
This is true as a general statement, but it is not invariably so, and they 
occasionally appear on the outside. It is also true that they appear 
most commonly on the fore legs, but this is not exclusively the case, and 
they may at times be found on both the inside and outside of the hind 
leg. Usually a splint forms only a true exostosis, or a single bony 
growth, with a somewhat diffuse base, but neither is this invariably the 
case. In some instances they assume more important dimensions, and 
pass from the inside to the outside of the bone, on its posterior face, 
between that and the suspencory ligament. This form is termed the 
pegged splint, and constitutes a serious and permanent deformity, in 
consequence of its interference with the play of the fibrous cord which 
passes behind it, becoming this a source of continual irritation and con- 
sequently permanent lameness. 
Symptoms. — A splint may thus frejuently become a cause of lameness 
though not necessarily in every instance; but it is a lameness possessing 
features peculiar to itself. It is not always continuous but at times 
assumes an intermittent character, and is more marked when the animal 
is warm than when he is cool. If the lameness is near the kneejoint, it 
is very apt to become aggravated when the animal is put to work, and 
the gait acquires then a peculiar character, arising from the manner in 
which the limb is carried outward from the knees downward, which is 
done by a kind of abduction of the lower part of the leg. Other symptoms, 
however, than the lameness and the presence of the splint, which is its 
cause, may be looked for in the same connection as those v/hich have 
been mentioned as pertaining to certain evidences of periostitis, in the 
increase of the temperature of the part, with swelling and probably 
pain on pressure. This last symptom is of no little importance since its 
presence or absence has in many cases formed the determining point in 
deciding a question of difficult diagnosis. 
Cause. — A splint being one of the results of periostitis, and the latter 
one of the effects of external hurts, it naturally follows that the parts 
which are most exposed to blows and collisions will be those on which 
the splint w^ill most commonly be found, and it may not be improper, 
therefore, to refer to hurts from without as among the common causes 
of the lesion. But other causes may also be productive of the evil, and 
among these may be mentioned the overstraining of an immature organ- 
ism by the imposition of excessive labor upon a young animal at a too 
early period of his life. The bones which enter into the formation of 
the cannon are three in number, one large and two smaller, which during 
the youth of the animal, are more or less articulated, with a limited 
amount of mobility, but which become in maturity firmly joined by a 
rigid union and ossification of their interarticular surface. If the im- 
mature animal is compelled, then to perform exacting tasks beyond his 
strength, the inevitable result will follow in the muscular straining, and 
perhaps tearing asunder of the fibers which unite the bones at their 
points of juncture, and it is difficult to understand how inflammation or 
periostitis can fail to develop as the natural consequence of such local 
irritation. If the result were deliberately and intelligently designed, it 
could hardly be more effectually accomplished. 
