38C DADbS VETERINARY iMEDlCiNE AND SURGERV. 



or other strong caustic, so as to occasion a slough. In this case, 

 too, the remedy was as bad as the disease ; the horse was disfigured 

 for life. Better and more recent treatment than this was either 

 firing or blistering. The objection to the former, however, was 

 the marks it produced; and to the latter, in common with the 

 former, that though the lameness was removed, it very frequently 

 returned with the resumption of labor. 



The more modern, successful, and scientific treatment oi splent* 

 consists in the operation of periosteotomy, or division of the peri 

 osteum, which covers the bone. 



Professor Sewell has introduced, within the few past years, an 

 excellent mode of performing the operation. The horse is cast, 

 the leg properly straightened and secured, and then a small ojien- 

 ing is made just below the splent sufficient to introduce a long, 

 narrow, convex, probe-pointed knife, the edge of which is on the 

 convex side The knife is then i)assed up under the skin, and by 

 drawing it backward and forward on the splent, pressing firmly 

 at tlie same time, the periosteum is completely divided. A small 

 opening is then made through the skin above the splent, and a 

 narrow seton passed from one orifice to the other, after which a 

 bandage is placed on the leg, and the horse released. The seton 

 should be moved and dressed daily with digestive ointment, and 

 at the expiration of a week removed, and the wound permitted to 

 heal. I have found the operation succeed whenever I have adopted 

 it. In the very numerous cases that occur of splents being unat- 

 tended with lameness, it is ' better to let well alone ;' but when 

 the lameness is slight, and the horse can not be spared from work 

 more than a few days, it is well to apply a mild blistering appli- 

 cation, such as the tincture of cantharides, about a tea-spoonful of 

 which will be sufficient for one application, which may be repeated 

 according to the action it produces and the benefit it occasions." 



Treatment. — Our practice in this country is to treat splent on 

 the same general principles that obtain in spavin and ring-bone — 

 namely, in the acute stage, when the accident of striking ha« 

 hajjpened, we apply sedatives and refrigerents, and in the chronic 

 stage, counter-irritants and absorbents. For the treatment of the 

 acute stage, a selection from the following articles may be made : 

 Arnica, infusion of hops or poppies, cold water, or equal parts of 

 vinegar and water. In the chronic stage, and in view of lessen > 

 ing the tumefaction. I recommend the followinof 



