LAMENESS, FROM VARIOUS CAUSES 375 



freedom from sensibility and lameness, and a partial disappear- 

 ance of" the enlargement, or " eye-sore." As the reader may like 

 to refer to the opinion of some well-known author, as well as 

 what ] Iiere advance, I select a quotation on the treatment of bone 

 spavin from the pen of Mr. Blaine : 



" This disease does not differ from splint, except that it is much 

 oftener a cause of serious lameness. Occurring, however, as it 

 commonly does, in older horses, it also proves more obstinate, and 

 the treatment required, therefore, should be more active. Among 

 the old farriers, who, like some of the moderns, thought nothing 

 too strong for a horse, violent mechanical operations were resorted 

 to, as the mallet and chisel to chip it off, boring the exostosis with 

 a gimlet, punching it with a hot iron, or applying caustics. The 

 first removing it mechanically, and the three latter methods de- 

 stroying its vitality, promoted its exfoliation. As might be ex- 

 pected, for one case which succeeded (and in some it certainly did 

 succeed) in many it increased the lameness, or ended in anchy- 

 losis and sometimes death. It is not improbable that instruments 

 may yet be devised which will operate on these bony •nlargements 

 without risk, though the chances are fewer in the hock, from its 

 connection with capsular and bursal ligaments, than in any other 

 parts. 



Treatment. — The treatment pursued by veterinarians of the 

 present day varies somewhat. Those bordering on the old school 

 still rub with some, violence, and then stimulate them with oil 

 origanum, oil terebinth, etc. Those of a later day blister and fire. 

 At the Veterinary College setons are used, by ripping up the in- 

 tegument and pushing a needle around, with tape through it, so 

 that the seton within the skin exactly opposes itself to the spavin. 

 If the skin is tender or tumefied, it is more proper to make an 

 opening above and below the exostosis, and to push a blunt seton- 

 needle or eyed probe from one opening to the other, armed with 

 a tape smeared with mild blistering ointment, or common turpen- 

 tine. In this way, report says, the College practice has proved 

 very successful. Blistering we have, however, found, when re- 

 peated over and over, commonly prove equal to all the benefit 

 these obstinate cases can receive; for, when the bone deposit is 

 fully formed, it is in vain to expect its entire absorption. Even 

 its partial absorption is frustrated. The removal of acute lame- 

 ness is generally the only benefit which can be anticipated. Our 



