98 THE ADVENTURES OF A GENTLEMAN 



it from the integuments that surround it. Though, 

 strictly speaking, the limbs do not correspond 

 either in structure or position, it is not incorrect to 

 say, that the tendon Achilles, in the human frame, 

 conveys an apposite idea both of the character 

 and use of the back sinew in the fore leg of a 

 horse ; at all events, a man who wishes to inform 

 himself of the peculiar feel of a sound and healthy 

 sinew, cannot do it better than by examining with 

 his finger and thumb, the hard, firm nature of that 

 tendon in himself. If, in passing his hand down 

 both the legs, he is conscious of essential and 

 marked difference between them, he may conclude 

 that the horse is unsound. 



Another defect of common occurrence in horses, 

 is splents. These are very often perceptible to the 

 eye, and almost always to the touch. Dealers 

 and every-day farriers call every indurated swell- 

 ing below the knee of a horse, a splent. I have 

 never been able to inform myself exactly what is 

 the true definition of a genuine splent. I have 

 received different explanations from almost every 

 veterinary surgeon that I have asked; but Professor 

 Sewell — (whose name I do not like to mention. 



