CHAPTER VIII. 



DISEASES OF THE BONES AND AETICULATIONS. 



CLASSIFICATION OF THE BONES — OSTITIS SORE SHINS — SPLINTS — 



PECULIARITY OF SPLINT LAMENESS — SCROFULOUS OSTITIS. 



The diseases affecting the bones of the lower animals may, for 

 the convenience of description, be classified under two heads, 

 namely, inflammatory and non-inflammatory. The liiie of de- 

 marcation between the two is not very well defined, as what may 

 be essentially a non-inflammatory disease in itself might be 

 productive of inflammation. Inflammation of bone (ostitis) can 

 scarcely be considered independently of inflammation of the peri- 

 osteum (periostitis), as both structures are so closely related that 

 we cirunot have inflammation of the one, without the other par- 

 ticipating in the diseased action. 



A correct knowledge of the pathology of bone being of the 

 greatest importance to the veterinarian, and the study of this 

 particular branch of veterinary pathology having liitherto been 

 neglected by the profession, I feel it necessary to give a slight 

 outline of the general anatomy of bone, in order that its patho- 

 logy may be better understood. 



Bones are divided into long, short, flat, and irregular. With 

 the exception of the cranial bones, the short, irregular, and flat 

 bones are composed chiefly of cancellated tissue enclosed in a 

 thin shell ; and it is found that, owing to their structure, they, as 

 M'ell as the extremities of the long bones, undergo pathological 

 changes somewhat similar to those of the softer structures. 



The bones of the cranium are composed of two bony plates — 

 a very dense one internally, another less dense externally, and 

 an intermediate vascular and medullary structure. 



