94 REMEDIES FOR SPAVIN. 



great measure owing the continuance of the old remedies for 

 spavin, as well in their commendable as in their objectionable 

 forms. And when once the judgment has become wedded to any 

 particular line of treatment, we all know how difficult we find it 

 to lay aside old and favourite for new and untried remedies, or 

 even to apply the old ones in any way different from that in 

 which we have been taught, or from what our own practice 

 appears to have confirmed as the best. If the same plan of 

 treatment which those before us practised for exostosis, or bone 

 spavin, be precisely that which is the best adapted for ulcer- 

 ative disease of the synovial membrane and articular cartilages, 

 then are we borne out in firing and blistering for spavin at the 

 present day, the same as was done formerly ; nor have we any 

 reason to hope for better success than attended the practice of 

 those who have gone before us, which, as we find from their 

 writings, was sorry indeed. What does Solleysel say 1 Why, 

 " that no person can promise a certain cure, or to make a horse 

 sound that is troubled with spavin, by giving the fire." — What 

 Gibson ] " That horses are often worse after the use of forcible 

 means to remove spavin than they were before." 



And do we not at the present day, in too many instances, blis- 

 ter and fire, and fire and blister, scoring and torturing our patients 

 in the severest manner, and yet, after all, without conferring any 

 relief? — nay, on occasions, rendering horses lamer than we found 

 them ! — disappointing our employers, and vexing ourselves. In a 

 word, our treatment has amounted to nothing but lamentable 

 failure ; to avoid which, or, at all events, to escape the incurrence 

 of blame from such sinister results, must prove of serious import 

 to the conscientious veterinary surgeon. 



Rest. — One has but to reflect for a moment on the delicate na- 

 ture of the tissue by which joints are lined, and how Ihe surfaces of 

 that lining are defended from rubbing, one against the other, by a 

 glib, soft, joint oil, to feel assured that, in its inflamed or ulcered 

 condition, motion of any kind must be hurtful. And yet, after hav- 

 ing blistered or fired for spavin, what is the usual practice ] Why, 

 to turn the horse out. Suppose a man to be the subject of ulcer- 

 ative disease of the hip or knee joint, what would be the direc- 



