CURABILITY OF SPAVIN. 85 



The Curahility of Spavin 



Is a question the answer to which, to avoid blame thereafter, re- 

 quires a good deal more of caution and circumspection than is apt 

 to be given to it. When persons talk about " cure," it is for pro- 

 fessional men to ascertain what meaning they attach to the word ; 

 whether by cure they mean restoration to perfect soundness, or 

 simply that approximation to soundness which enables the animal 

 to do his work, in effect at least, as well, or as much to the satis- 

 faction of his master, as he did before he went lame. And it is 

 still more especially the business of the veterinary surgeon, before 

 he ventures to offer an opinion concerning the curability of spavin, 

 to make himself correctly informed of the historj^, the duration, 

 the degree of lameness, the aspect and feel of the tumour, &c. &c. 

 of the case in question. It is for want of taking care to be fur- 

 nished with these simple and obvious data for guides that young 

 and incautious professional men too often suffer themselves to be 

 betrayed, in speaking of a disease possessing such a fluctuation of 

 character as spavin, faltering in their opinions, or giving such as 

 are of a diverse or conflictipg nature : the circumstances, past and 

 present, being represented alike, and no omission of any one of 

 them of importance being made, the case of spavin, difficult as 

 it often is of prognosis, will hardly give rise, in the minds of 

 experienced veterinarians, to any material difference of opinion. 

 Coleman said, spavin was an incurable disease ; but then he made 

 cure to consist in restoration of structure as well as restoration of 

 function. We restrict our notions of cure to restoration of function. 

 We say, if we can remove the lameness of a spavined horse, or 

 remove so much of it as will enable him to do that kind or amount 

 of work which is required of him, that we have succeeded in a 

 serviceable cure, if not in a sound one, notwithstanding he may 

 " go stiff" when he first leaves his stable, and that exostosis may 

 still be perceptible enough when we come to inspect his hock. 

 And this is the sort of soundness to which spavined horses in ge- 

 neral, when they are said to be cured, are restored. If I were to 



