92 TREATMENT OF DISEASES 



more of the functions necessary to the support of life. The follow- 

 ing will form the best local application we know of: 



Pyroligneous Acid 1 pint. 



Tincture of Blood-root 1 gill. 



Linseed Oil ^ " 



Mix, and wet the farcy buds with it morning and evening. 



SPLENT— ITS NATURE, CAUSE AND TREATMENT. 



The term Splent, or splint^ as it is sometimes called, is derived 

 from the Italian word spinella, a splint — a name properly belonging 

 to those small bones, at the posterior parts of the cannons, known, in 

 the fore, as small metacarpal, and on the hiyid extremities Si^metatar- 

 sal ; they being considered by some persons, as splinters of the main 

 or cannon bones. The name of the bone is, therefore, erroneously 

 transferred to the disease, the proper name of which should be ex- 

 ostosis, (a morbid enlargement or tumor of bone.) The splent bones 

 answer a useful jyurpose m the animal economy/ — they are designed 

 to receive a portion of the weight of the body, and aid the cartil- 

 ages of the knee in guarding against concussion. They are united to 

 the cannon by a fibrous cartilage, which admits of slight motion, 

 upwards and downwards ; in the disease called S2:)lent, the articulat- 

 ing cartilages become ossified, (changed into bone,) the function of 

 the part is destroyed, and all motion, or elasticity, ceases. As no 

 hopes can ever be entertained of changing bone into soft tissue, we 

 may, without fear of contradiction, assert that Splent is incurable. 



Cause of Splent. — Overworking a horse, or hard galloping, by 

 which any undue or sudden pressure is brought to bear on the splent 

 bones, whereby the fibrous cartilage is stretched, strained, or lacerat- 

 ed, so as to produce inflammatory action, and subsequent osseous 

 efiusion, may be regarded as exciting causes. Trotting young colts 

 by the side of their mothers, and imposing on them heavy burthens 

 at too tender an age, are practices, considered operative in produc- 

 ing this mischief Mr. Percival, the best authority on this subject, 

 writes: "Over- work, over-action, at a tender age, is the ordinary 

 cause of Splent. In the anxiety there is to bring young horses into 

 use, in the precocious practice of breaking, &c., we cannot feel sur- 

 prised at unperfected parts giving way, or being reconstructed in a 

 different manner from the original design. Nature is forced beyond 

 her powers, and finding that the soft and elastic material, placed for 

 a certain wise purpose between the splent and cannon bones, insuf- 

 ficient against weight and force, osseous material is substituted lor 

 it. Even before breaking or using the colt commences, the mis- 

 chief may be perpetrated. A gallop, jump, or gambol, in the field, 

 or yard, may occasion a Splent. Again, a blow, or other external 

 injury, may produce a Splent, though this is comparatively a rare case. 

 To whatever cause, however, it be referable, the fact is notorious 

 enough, that hardly any horse completes his fifth year without Splent, 

 latent or demonstrable." 



So far as regards American horses, the disease is far from being uni- 



