32 DADD’S VETERINARY MEDICINE AND SURGERY. 
stringhalt horses are the subjects of ulcerative disease of the hock 
joint, and they finally become sprained. 
Tn such cases, it is possible that stringhalt may be the result of 
hock disease, which irritates the nerves in the vicinity of the part, 
and thus affects that portion of the nervous system which controls 
the muscles concerned. ANDRAL tells us that “chorea, like epi- 
lepsy, may be excited by irritation.” Hence, in the commencement 
of spavin, or so soon as osseous incrustations are thrown out, they 
may, during the active motion of the joint, produce local irritation, 
of nervous filaments, in the vicinity, which irritation may be com- 
municated to larger and more important nerves, and thus induve 
stringhalt. 
We all know that local irritation produced by the prick of 
nail, or sometimes docking and pricking, is often productive of 
locked-jaw, simply because some nervous or tendinous structure 
is injured; and so the local irritation in the region of the hock 
may be productive of the malady now under consideration. The 
author has paid considerable attention to this subject, and is con- 
vinced that almost all horses of the nervous or excitable tempera- 
ment, the subjects of inter-articular spavin, manifest more or less 
zatching-up of the limb (stringhalt) at some period during the 
progress of spavin, and that when the bones of the hock are 
anchylosed (united), and the motion and irritation of the parts 
have ceased, the stringhalt becomes modified. The reader, how- 
ever, must not receive this opinion as absolute; for at times, in 
consequence of some peculiar idiosyncrasy, the stringhalt gradu- 
ally grows worse. Among some members of the human family, 
of the peculiar temperament to receive the impression, almost any 
thing which makes a forcible impression upon the nervous system 
may act as an exciting cause of chorea. The subject is a very 
important one, and most veterinary writers of the English school 
aave rather mystified the subject, and at last have come 4o the 
conclusion that the disease is incurable. This was formerly the 
author’s opinion, but a change has taken place in his sentiments, 
and he is unwilling to deprive the afflicted animal of the benefits 
af progressive science. More light on the subject may enable na 
to effect many cases of cure; at least it will enable us better to 
understand the pathology of the case, which is an important 
step in the right direction. In view, therefore, of furnishing the 
reader with some useful information, whether he be a veterinary 
