122 OTHER REMEDIES FOR SFAVIN. 



and painless remedies, while another maintains that firing, and 

 firing alone, can avail. " I can cure spavins with setons," says 

 one practitioner ; another, that " blisters" are the things ; a third, 

 that " periosteotomy" is all that is required. Paradoxical as it 

 may appear to unprofessional people, it would not be difficult to 

 shew, all were, in a measure, right, and yet that all were wrong ; 

 the affirmations being made without any reference to the kind or 

 nature of the disease represented by the name of spavin. The 

 scientific veterinarian will take little heed of such empirical lan- 

 guage as this ; but will apply himself to the thorough compre- 

 hension of the state and stage of the disease he is, under the 

 appellation of " spavin," called on to treat, and apply his remedies 

 accordingly. 



Obviously, the important consideration in undertaking the treat- 

 ment of spavin must, I repeat, be whether the case is actually 

 one of the periosteal or articular description ; and by way of 

 assisting the judgment of the young veterinarian in discriminating 

 between the two, it may not be amiss in this place to remind 

 him — 1st, That a recent case of spavin, and one occurring for the 

 first time — not a relapse — is, presumably, periosteal; and is with 

 still more reason regarded as such when the exostosis accompanies 

 or precedes the lameness ; 2dly, That heat and tenderness in the 

 tumour are evidences of the lameness being referrible to it, and to 

 it alone ; 3dly, That, although no tumour or external spavin may 

 be perceptible, we are not, therefore, to set the case down as one 

 of articular disease, since tumour may shortly make its appear- 

 ance : knowing, as we do, that exostosis or callus may exist in 

 situations where from its being covered by ligament or tendon, or 

 by both, the nicest examination will fail to detect it ; 4thly, That 

 spavin in a young — ^an unbroke — horse is likely to be periosteal; 

 5thly, That lameness will, under exercise or exertion, abate or 

 disappear when arising from periosteal spavin ; whereas, very 

 often, when articular disease is present, the lameness will be in- 

 creased instead of being lessened by motion or work. Appearances 

 and circumstances the reverse of these will dispose us to regard the 

 case as articular ; at the same time, it must be borne in mind that 

 it is, indeed, very problematical whether such a case as pure or 



