EXOSTOSIS. 279 



be altered. It used to be the custom to remove the splint with 

 a hammer and chisel, but the production of a large blemish from 

 the destruction of skin was the consequence of this barbarous 

 method. Another practice, as ancient and barbarous as the 

 former, was the a})plication- of corrosive sublimate, 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 w^as 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 labour. 



" The more modern, successful, and scientific treatment of 

 splints consists in the operation of periosteotomy, or division of 

 the periosteum, which covers the bone. 



" Professor Sewell has introduced, within these few years, an 

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

 the leg properly straightened and secured, and then a small 

 opening is made just below the splint, sufficient to introduce a 

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

 on the convex side ; the knife is then passed up under the skin, 



I 



Periosteotomy Knife. 

 This knife is blunt on the extremity so as to pass under tlie skin as a pvobe. 



and by drawing It backwards and forwards on the splint, pressing 

 firmly at the same time, the periosteum is completely divided. 

 A small opening is then made through the skin above the splint, 

 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 splints being un- 

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

 Avhen the lameness is slight, and the horse cannot be spared 

 from work more than a few days, it is well to apply a mild 

 blistering application, such as the tincture of cantharides, about 

 a tea-spoonful of which will be sufficient for one application, 



T 4 



