292 



therefore, to refer to hurts from without as among the common causes 

 of the lesion. But other causes may also be productive of the evil, 

 and among these may be mentioned the overstraining of an immature 

 organism by the imposition of excessive labor upon a young animal 

 at a too early period of his life. The bones which enter into the for- 

 mation of the cannon are three in number, one large and two smaller, 

 which, during the youth of the animal, are more or less articulated, 

 with a limited amount of mobility, but which become in maturity 

 firmly joined by a rigid union and ossification of their inter-articular 

 surface. If the immature animal is compelled, then, to j)erform exact- 

 ing tasks beyond his strength the inevitable result will follow in the 

 muscular straining, and perhaps tearing asunder of the fibers which 

 unite the bones at their points of juncture, and it is difficult to under- 

 stand how the natural consequences of such a local irritation develop- 

 ing in inflammation or periostitis can be avoided. If the result were 

 deliberately and intelligently designed it could hardly be more eflfect- 

 uall}' accomiDlished. 



The splint is an object of the commonest occurrence, so common, 

 indeed, that in large cities a horse which can not exhibit one or more 

 specimens upon some portion of his extremities is one of the rarest 

 of spectacles. Though it is in some instances a, cause of lameness 

 end its discovery and cure are sometimes beyond the abilitj^ of the 

 shrev/dest and most experienced veterinarians, yet as a source of vital 

 danger to the general equine organization, or even of functional dis- 

 turbance, or of practical inconvenience, aside from the rare excep- 

 tional cases which exist as mere samples of possibility, it can not be 

 considered to belong to the category of serious lesions. The worst 

 stigma that attaches to it is that in general estimation it is ranked 

 among eyesores, and continues indefinitely to be that and nothing less 

 or better. Thi inflammation in Avhich they originated, acute at first, 

 either subsid^^s or assumes the chronic form, and the bony growth 

 becomes a permanence, more or less established, it is true, but doing 

 no positive harm, and not hindering the animal from continuing his 

 daily routine of labor. All this, however, requires a proviso against 

 the occurrence of a subsequent acute attack, when, as with other 

 exostoses, a fresh access of acute symptoms may be followed by a new 

 pathological activity which shall again develop as a natural result a 

 reappearance of the lameness. 



It is of course the consideration of the comparative harmlessness of 

 splints that suggests and justifies the policy of non-interference, 

 except as they become a positive cause of lameness. And a more 

 positive argument for such non-interference consists in the fact that 

 any active and irritating treatment may so excite the j)arts as to 

 bring about a renewed pathological activity, which may result in a 

 reduplication of the phenomena, with a second edition if not a sec- 

 ond and enlarged volume of the whole story. For our part our faith 



