AS TO SOUNDNESS. 117 



the ulcero-plastic. You find the best example of it 

 occasionally on macerating bones to make up a skeleton. 

 You find the cuneiform bones, as it were, glued to the 

 tibial without any outgrowth soever. This takes place 

 first by removal by ulceration of the cartilage, when the 

 blood-vessels from the respective surfaces throw out 

 lymph, which in turn gets tunnelled by blood-vessels and 

 so organized. There is a very strong tendency for the 

 parts in question to undergo this change. The first 

 skeleton I ever put up when I was an apprentice was 

 the skeleton of a pony we knew to be over thirty years 

 old, which had spent an easy life. The cuneiform 

 bones and the scaphoide of one hock were as I have 

 described, and no doubt this was due to the animal 

 being at liberty to rest the part whilst this change was 

 proceeding. Rest of the parts must have been perfect 

 during this time, because movement would have so 

 disturbed the plastic lymph that some of it would 

 undoubtedly have oozed out between the bones, and 

 we then should have had spavin. We have plenty of 

 instances of this form of inflammation (?) The vertebrae 

 are very prone to become glued together (ankylosed) 

 on account of their limited mobility, more especially the 

 lumbar vertebras. The lower bones of the hock have 

 no movements one on the other to make it worth the 

 while, so to speak, of nature to maintain these joints* 

 with their synovial membranes, cartilage, etc., so that 

 these parts, like the lumbar vertebrae, have a very 

 strong tendency, like the little-used lumbar joints, 



