S P L E N T S. 51 



writings at the expence of a reader's under- 

 standing as well as his purse. From cir- 

 cumftances the nioft predominant it abfolutely 

 appears that neither of the authors here quoted 

 (notwithftanding the degree of eftimation they 

 may be held in) gave himfelf time, even for 

 a moment, to confider the nature of the 

 ** excrefcence" he means or wiihes to defcribe^ 

 or the method of cure he may be naturally 

 anxious to recommend. 



And this the more powerfully appears, by 

 the ridiculous attempt to deftroy what they 

 acknowledge an apparent offification, or bony 

 fubflance, feated upon a folid body, under the 

 integuments, without a deftrudlion of the 

 integuments themfelves, or a palpable injury 

 to the component parts. But to bring this 

 matter as near the truth as conjedure can juf- 

 tify, we will ( by allowing an alternative, ) • take 

 one or other for the fadt, and drav/ what mufl 

 appear a very natural and jufh conclufion; that 

 is, whether the protuberance upon any part of 

 the fhank-bone, called a Splent, is an enlarge- 

 ment of the penq/ieum (or membrane cover- 

 ing the bone,) by an original rupture of the 

 fmall veffels, and the extravafated fluid col- 



Ez ledlcd 



