THE LEG. • 267 



wound, and more especially on the nature of the treatment that has been adopted. 

 Every caustic application will destroy a portion of the skin, and leave a certain mark. 

 Should the blemish be considerable, a mild blister may be applied over the part, after 

 the w^ound has healed. It will stimulate the hair to grow more rapidly and thickly 

 round the scar, and particularly hair of the natural colour; and, by contracting the 

 skin, it will lessen the scar itself. Many persons have great faith in ointments that 

 are said to promote the growth of the hair. If they have this property, it must be 

 from their stimulating the skin in which the roots of the hair are imbedded. These 

 ointments usually contain a small portion of blistering matter, in the form of tuqjen- 

 tine, or the Spanish-tly, The common application of gunpowder and lard may, by 

 blackening the part, conceal the blemish, but can have no possible effect in quickening 

 the growth of the hair. 



In examining a horse for purchase, the knees should be very strictly scrutinised. 

 A small blemish on them should not induce us at once to condemn the animal for a 

 bad rider, for the merest accident may throw the safest horse. A broken knee, how- 

 ever, is a suspicious circumstance, and calls for the most careful observation of the 

 make and action of the horse. If it is accompanied by a thick and upright shoulder, 

 and legs far under the horse, and low slovenly action, he is unwise who does not 

 take the hint. This faulty conformation has produced its natural consequence. But 

 if the shoulder is oblique, and the pastern of the proper length and inclination, and 

 the fore-arm strong, the good judge will not reject the animal because he may have 

 been accidentally thrown. 



THE LEG. 



The part of the limb between the knee and the fetlock consists of three bones — a 

 large one before, called the caimun or shank, and two smaller or splint bones behind 

 (see N, p. 68). The shank-bone is rounded in front, and flattened, or even concave, 

 behind. It is the straightest of the long bones, as well as the most superficially 

 situated, for in some parts it is covered only by the skin. The upper head is flat, 

 with slight depressions corresponding with the lower row of the bones of the knee. 

 The lower head is differently and curiously formed. It resembles a double pulley. 

 There are three elevations ; the principal one in the centre, and another on each side. 

 Between them are two slight grooves, and these so precisely correspond with deep 

 depressions and slight prominences in the upper head of the larger pastern, and are so 

 enclosed and guarded by the elevated edges of that bone, that when the shank-bone 

 and the pastern are fitted to each other, they form a perfect hinge. They admit of the 

 bending and extension of the limb, but of no lateral or side motion. This is a circum- 

 stance of very great importance in a joint so situated, and having the whole weio-ht 

 of the horse thrown upon it. 



The smaller bones are placed behind the larger ones on either side. A slight pro- 

 jection of the head of each can alone be seen in front. The heads of these bones are 

 enlarged, and receive part of the weight conveyed by the lower row of the bones of 

 the knee. They are united to the larger bone by the same kind of substance which 

 is found in the colt between the bone of the elbow and the main bone of the arm ; and 

 which is designed, by its great elasticity, to lessen the concussion or jar when the 

 weight of the animal is thrown on them. They reach from one-half to two-thirds of 

 the length of the shank-bone, and, through their whole extent, are united to it by this 

 substance ; but, as in the elbow, from the animal being worked too soon, or too 

 violently, inflammation ensues — bony matter is deposited in the room of the 

 ligamentous, and a bony union takes place instead of the natural one. There is no 

 doubt that the ease of motion is somewhat lessened by this substitution of bone, but 

 other elastic principles are probably called into more powerful action, and the value 

 of the horse is not perceptibly impaired, although it is hard to say what secret injury 

 may be done to the neighbouring joints, and the cause of which, the lameness not 

 appearing until a distant period, is not suspected. 



In this process, however, mischief does often immediately extend to the neigh- 

 bouring parts. The disposition to deposit bone reaches beyond the circumscribed 

 space between the larger and smaller bones of the leg, and a tumour, first callous, 

 and afterwards bony, is found, with part of its base resting on the line of unioB 

 between these bones. This is called a 



