182 
SPAVIN. 
made upon the small metatarsal bones is received by the elastic 
fibro-cartilaginous substance uniting them to the large bone, they 
having no bony supporters. In the one case, therefore, concussion 
would operate upon the bones themselves, in the other, upon 
a soft inter-osseous substance : consequently, the articulating 
surfaces — their synovial membranes and articular cartilages — 
would be the parts to suffer in the cuneiform bones; the inter- 
osseous fibro-cartilaginous attachments, the parts to fail in the small 
metatarsal bones. Leaving the former for consideration hereafter, 
I shall at present devote my attention to th^metatarsal joints. 
. Professor Coleman’s ofjnion was/That spavin' originated 
in splent of the hind leg. Plis words, in his Lectures on the sub- 
ject, are, “ The nature of spavin is, that the substance which con- 
nects the small to the large metatarsal bone, being violently put on 
the stretch (for it is highly elastic), inflames; and the result of 
this inflammation generally is, that ossific matter is effused, and 
becomes the medium of connexion between these bones. The 
alteration, however, does not stop here ; for bony matter continues 
to be deposited, so as to form a tumour on the inner side of the 
hock. In ordinary spavins, however, inflammation is not confined 
to this (inter-osseous) substance, but extends more or less over the 
hock ; though the tumour generally forms at the head of the inner 
small metatarsal bone . And when once a spavin or splent has 
taken place — for they are of precisely the same nature , only that 
one is situated in the fore, the other in the hind legs — the disease 
must for always remain.” 
About the seat of spavin there is no room for dispute — the 
tumour almost invariably grows in the same place. Still, it has 
been remarked by the closest observers to be, in respect to eleva- 
tion, either — what they have called — “ high” or “ low ;” by which 
is meant, to be situated either upon the cuneiform joint of the 
hock or beneath it. In the latter case, having no relation what- 
ever to the hock save proximity of site, the spavin would, to all 
i ntents and purposes, amount to no more than a splent ; whereas, 
in the former case, it would be a genuine spavin. Now, that the 
one may, and sometimes does, originate in the other, there is suffi- 
cient evidence to shew ; at the same time, it must not be forgotten 
that the majority of the cases presented to us in the form of low 
spavin , or veritable splent — “ knots,” as dealers call them — unat- 
tended by any lameness, continue free from the supervention of 
the spavin which produces lameness: at least, this I give as the 
result of my own observation. I do not mean to deny the truth of 
the Professor’s doctrine, that spavin originates in splent: 1 only 
mean to contend that such is not the common or usual way in 
which the disease commences, and that hind splents, or, what 
