SPLINTS. 287 



taining to certain evidences of periostitis, in the increase of the 

 temperature of the part, with swelling and probably pain on pres- 

 sure. This last symptom is of no little importance, since its presence 

 or absence has in many cases formed the determining point in decid- 

 ing a question of difficult diagnosis. 



Cause. — A splint being one of the results of periostitis, and the 

 latter one of the effects of external hurts, it naturally follows that 

 the parts 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, therefore, to refer to hurts from without as among the 

 common causes of the lesion. But other causes may also be produc- 

 tive 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 

 interarticular surface. If the immature animal is 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 points of juncture, and it 

 is difficult to understand how inflammation or periostitis can fail to 

 develop as the natural consequence of such local irritation. If the 

 result were deliberately and intelligently designed, it could hardly 

 be more effectually accomplished. 



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, and 

 its discovery and cure are sometimes beyond the ability of the shrewd- 

 est and most experienced veterinarians, yet as a source of vital danger 

 to the general equine organization, or even of functional disturbance, 

 or of practical inconvenience, aside from the rare exceptional 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 at- 

 taches to it is that in general estimation it is ranked among eyesores 

 and continues indefinitely to be that and nothing different. The 

 inflammation in which they originated, acute at first, either subsides 

 or assumes the chronic form, and the bony growth becomes a perma- 

 nence — 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 

 Digitized by Microsoft® 



