SPAVIN. 489 



the belly tender ; there is constant pain, and every motion in- 

 creases it ; there is also rapid and great prostration of strength. 

 These symptoms will sufficiently characterize peritoneal inflam- 

 mation. Bleeding, aperient injections, and extensive counter- 

 irritation, will afford the only hope of cure. 



The time for castration varies according to the breed and 

 destiny of the horse. On the farmer's colt it may be efi'ected 

 when the animal is not more than four or five months old, and 

 it is comparatively seldom that a fatal case then occurs. For 

 other horses, much depends on their growth, and particularly 

 on the development of their fore-quarters. An improvement 

 has been effected in the old mode of castrating, by opening the 

 scrotum, and the division of the cord by the knife, instead of 

 the heated iron. 



Synovial or joint membranes are interj)osed between the 

 divisions of the bones, and frequently between the tendons, in 

 order to secrete a certain fluid that shall facilitate motion and 

 obviate friction. Occasionally the membrane is lacerated, and 

 the synovia escapes. This is termed open joint, and violent in- 

 flammation rapidly ensues. The duty of the practitioner is to 

 close this opening as quickly as possible. Superacetate of lead 

 one part, and water four parts, may be applied or injected into 

 tlie cavity, frequently with success. A great deal of inflam- 

 mation and engorgement are produced around the opening, 

 partially, if not altogether, closing it, or at least enabling the 

 coagulated synovia to occupy and obliterate it. Perhaps, in 

 order to secure the desired result, the whole of the joint should 

 be blistered. After this a bandage should be firmly applied, 

 and kept on as long as it is wanted. If there is any secondary 

 eruption of the synovia, the cautery must be had recourse to. 



Spavin is an enlargement of the inner side of the hock. The 

 splint-bones support the inferior layer of those of the hock, and 

 as they sustain a very unequal degree of concussion and weight, 

 the cartilaginous substance which unites them to the shank-bone 

 takes on inflammation. It becomes bony instead of cartilaginous ; 

 and the disposition to this change being set up in the part, bony 

 matter continues to be deposited, until a very considerable en- 

 largement takes place, known by the name of spavin, and there 

 is considerable lameness in the hock-joint. The bony tumor is 



