THE .MODERN HORSE DOCTOR. 275 



until the owner sees that the lameness is not to be driven off. 

 The generality of non-professional men are unwilling to believe 

 in the existence of spavin, unless they can both see and feel it, 

 and are therefore more prone to refer primary spavin lameness to 

 some other joint, until, after a few months of intermittent lame- 

 ness, they are, by ocular demonstration, convinced. 



Spavin commencing in inter-articular cartilage is not demon- 

 strable in this manner ; there is no circumscribed tumor, nor ir- 

 regularity ; our diagnosis must, therefore, be made up from the 

 signs revealed — from the heat and tenderness about the part, 

 of a sub-acute character — from the absence of tumor — from 

 the manner of catching up the limb — and from the intermittent 

 nature of the lameness, which is progressive, yet fluctuating. 

 The history of the case, also, must be considered. If a sort of 

 irregular lameness has existed for some months, referable to no 

 other joint than the hock, and the difficulty has of late gradually 

 increased, so that the joint appears stiff, all doubts are set aside, 

 for anchylosis is hastening towards completion ; after which we 

 may expect to observe a tumor on the inside of the hock. A tu- 

 mor once formed in the region already referred to needs no wise 

 man to point it out ; it can be both seen and felt ; and this, accom- 

 panied with hock lameness and ligamentary tumefaction, is the 

 diagnostic symptom of spavin in its exostotic stage. 



BOG SPAVIN. — (Enlarged Bursa Mucosae.) 

 BLOOD SPAVIN. — {Local venous Congestion.) 



Bog spavin is the term usually given to enlarged mucous cap- 

 sules, or to a distended state of the sub-cutaneous veins in the re- 

 gion of the hock. In the latter case it is termed blood spavin. 

 It will be seen, on referring to article Spavin, that the above 

 abnormal states bear no resemblance to the latter ; therefore the 

 term is misapplied, and should not be made use of by any per- 

 son professing veterinary knowledge. Enlarged mucous capsules 

 in the one case, and local venous congestion in the other, are 

 significant terms, and"by them we understand the nature of the 

 case, and also by what means they are to be treated. 



The remedies for enlarged mucous capsules are, in the early 



