splint. 87 



cited action of the pulse over the part affected. 

 This sort of thing often causes the groom and 

 owner much anxietv; knowincr the horse to be 

 lame, and being unable to find the cause, it is put 

 down to everything but the right. It will be 

 called chest founder, chronic founder, shoulder 

 pitched, and many other things. When a boy, I 

 once asked the late Professor Dick what was 

 chronic founder, and was told it was a very 

 convenient phrase to use when you have a horse 

 lame in the foot and cannot find the seat of lame- 

 ness. ^^ We call it," said the Professor, ^'chronic 

 founder, and send many fools away satisfied." 

 The symptoms of splint lameness are pointing the 

 foot, resting the toe only upon the ground ; the 

 horse has great difficulty in moving forward, 

 cannot bend its knee, but can go back, which a 

 horse lame in the shoulder cannot do. The cause 

 of splint is the formation of a tumour under the 

 periosteum^ or membrane which covers the bone. 

 During the growth of the tumour this becomes 

 stretched to an unnatural degree, and causes the 

 animal great pain, owing to the sensitive nature 

 of this covering. It is difficult to conceive how 

 splint should appear on the outside of the small 

 bones, except, Ave suppose, the space between 

 these bones is occupied by mechanism of an im- 

 portant character. It is much easier to accoiuit 

 for their almost exclusive appearance on the in- 

 side of the limb, the inner splint bone being 

 situated nearer the central part of the body than 

 the other, and from the nature of its connection 

 with the knee it is subject to a greater proportion 



