294 BOG SPAVIN. 



permitted. Therefore, if required to do something towards lessen- 

 ing their volume while horses are still going on with their work, 

 the best treatment for windgalls is some well-regulated course of 

 pressure or friction, aided by discutient applications. A russia- 

 duck bandage, three yards in length, and four inches in breadth, 

 will, by being neatly and tightly rolled round the leg in such 

 manner as to give the windgalls the principal pressure, wetted 

 with simple water even, and better still if with some lotion pos- 

 sessing stimulant or discutient properties, in time bring about some 

 good, particularly when there is any reason to suspect inflam- 

 matory action in or about the tumour ; though better treatment 

 than this, in general, is well rubbing into the tumours iodine oint- 

 ment of adequate strength, or else an application composed of equal 

 parts of the iodine and strong mercurial ointments. The sublimate 

 ointment we mentioned before — consisting of 3j of finely powdered 

 bi-chloride of mercury rubbed with §j of hogs' lard — has likewise 

 been highly commended as a remedy of this sort for windgalls. 

 As has been, however, more than once repeated, windgalls of the 

 fetlocks, in point of fact, of themselves, under ordinary circum- 

 stances call for no treatment. So long as they are recent, repose 

 alone will create in them a disposition to subside. And when 

 something more than common happens, seeming to require our 

 assistance, we must in our examination of the windgalls take care 

 to inquire into any ailment or alteration with which they appear 

 to have any direct or indirect connexion. 



Bog Spavin. 



This is a misnomer for the disease we are about to consider. 

 Contrary to what might be expected, it has no relation whatever 

 to SPAVIN, properly so called ; but has acquired the same appella- 

 tion, as it would appear, simply from the circumstance of its being 

 a swelling occupying pretty nearly the same situation : the epithet 

 *' bog," meaning something that bends or yields, being prefixed as 

 the antithesis oihone spavin, which is a tumour hard and unyielding. 



A Bog Spavin may be defined to be, a soft, elastic, fluc- 

 tuating tumour, of the nature of windgall, growing upon the inner 

 and anterior part of the hock joint. 



