REVIEWS. 
5 67 
“ Spavin, as a very serious sequine 
affection, may be cited as an example 
of this : its destructive attack on the 
utility of the most valuable of our 
domestic animals has made it a sub- 
ject of much importance in the vete- 
rinary art, and an arena for its 
disputants. Its nature and seat are 
not yet settled, although it has been 
recognised as a dire horse-evil for 
more than two thousand years. Its 
importance most certainly well de- 
serves an attentive consideration ; I 
will, therefore, sketch the prevalent 
opinions regarding it, and endeavour 
to extract truth and practical in - 
structio?i as I and my reader pro- 
ceed. The eminent veterinary writer 
whose general account of the nature, 
qualities, and diseases of the horse, 
give additional value to the Library 
of Useful Knowledge , offers his 
opinion of spavin in so instructive a 
form, that I cannot do the inquiring- 
reader, who has not met with it, a 
more essential service than to con- 
dense it for his perusal. It is 
observed by thi3 author, ‘that the 
bones of the leg, the shank- bone, 
and the two little splint-bones 
behind, support the lower layer of 
the bones of the hock. The cube- 
bone rests principally on the shank- 
bone, and in a slight degree on the 
outer splint-bone. The middle 
wedge bone rests entirely upon the 
shank-bone, and the smaller wedge 
rests in a very slight degree on 
the shank-bone, but principally or 
almost entirely on the inner splint- 
bone. Then the splint-bones sustain 
a very unequal degree of concussion 
and weight : not only is the inner 
one placed more under the body, 
and nearer the centre of gravity, but 
it has almost the whole of the weight 
and concussion communicated to the 
little wedge-bone carried on to it. 
Prom this clear exposition he proceed 
to remark, that we need not wonder 
that the violent actions of galloping, 
leaping, heavy draught, particularly 
in young horses, should injure the 
inner splint-bone, its ligaments, or 
the substance which connects it with 
the shank-bone; which pressure is 
further increased, according to his 
yet hit upon the right cause. The 
artery, nevertheless, passes along the 
inner side of the fore leg, close to 
the seat of splint; and it likewise 
does the same upon the outer side 
of the hind leg, near to the place 
where splint in that member begins. 
Splint originates in inflammation. 
Inflammation is a disease of excessive 
vascularity. Can, therefore, the 
neighbourhood of the artery have 
anything to do with its production ? 
It is not for us to answer the ques- 
tion. 
All this, however, is foreign, it 
may be said, to our present subject— 
which is spavin. Coleman was pos- 
sessed of far more cunning than 
wisdom ; and he used to teach his 
pupils, when a lameness occurred in 
the fore leg, to swear it was in the 
foot ; and when in the hind, to vow 
it was in the hock. So far as the 
mere fact of liability of the parts to 
be affected is concerned, the late pro- 
fessor was in the right. But whence 
spring this disposition in different 
parts to assume disease ? Let us 
illustrate this by a kind of everyday 
example. A gentleman has two 
walking sticks ; the one is straight, 
the other is bent at an angle in the 
middle. He uses this one day, and 
the other the next. They both con- 
sequently get the same wear. The 
straight one will become useless, 
because of its being battered at the 
point ; and so the foot of the fore 
leg generally gives way in the limb 
which is straight. The other will 
yield at the part where the two lines 
meet, or at which the stick is bent ; 
and so in the hind leg, the hock most 
feels and sustains the shock of motion. 
The artery crosses from the inside 
of the hock to the outer side of the 
hind leg, close to the inner and lower 
part of the joint, which Mr. W. 
Percivall defines accurately enough 
to be the seat of spavin. May not vas- 
cularity be the predisposing, and jar 
the exciting cause ? In the forma- 
tion of the fore leg can also be dis- 
covered a reason, for attributing to 
the foot greater vascularity than that 
of the hind limb. In the fore leg, 
the blood has only to pursue its 
