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We have said that splints are to be found on the inside of the leg. 

 This is true as a general statement, but it is not invariably so, and they 

 occasionally appear on the outside. It is also true that they appear 

 most commonly on the fore legs, but this is not exclusively the case, and 

 they may at times be found on both the inside and outside of the hind 

 legs. Usually a splint forms only a true exostosis, or a single bony 

 growth, with a somewhat diffuse base, but neither is this invariably the 

 case. In some instances they assume more important dimensions, and 

 pass from the inside to the outside of the bone, on its posterior face, 

 between that and the suspensory ligament. This form is termed the 

 pegged splint, and constitutes a serious and permanent deformity, in con- 

 sequence of its interference with the play of the fibrous cord which 

 passes behind it, becoming thus a source of continual irritation and con 

 sequently of permanent lameness. 



A splint may thus frequently become a cause of lameness though not 

 necessarily in every instance ; but it is a lameness i^ossessing features 

 peculiar to itself. It is not always continuous, but at times assumes 

 an intermittent character, and is more marked when the animal is warm 

 than when he is cool. If the lameness is near the knee-joint, it is very 

 apt to become aggravated when the animal is put to work, and the gait 

 acquires then a peculiar character, arising from the manner in which 

 the limb is carried outward from the knees downwards, which is done 

 by a kind of abduction of the lower part of the leg. Other symptoms, 

 however, than the lameness and the presence of the splint, which is its 

 cause, may be looked for in the same connection as those which have 

 been mentioned as jiertainiug to certain evidences of periostitis, in the 

 increase of the temperature of the part, with swelling and probably 

 pain on pressure. This last symptom is of no little importance, since 

 its iiresence or absence has in many cases formed the determining point 

 in deciding a question of diflficult diagnosis, 



A splint being one of the results of periostitis, and the latter one of 

 the effects of external hurts, it naturally follows that the jjarts which 

 are most exposed to blows and collisions will be those on which the 

 splint will most commonly be found, and it may not be improper, there- 

 fore, 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 formation 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 im- 

 mature animal be compelled, then, to perform exacting 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 



