SPAVIN. 
423 
comparative safety. I have heard a veterinary surgeon say, he 
has used the horse-rasp . In any case there exists danger of in- 
flammation ensuing; added to which, there is to be considered, 
that, although so much of the ossification may be removed as con- 
stitutes the “ lump” or swelling, the base or bed from which such 
tumour has grown still remains, uniting the cushion, and other 
bones as well, perhaps, as fixedly together as ever; and that, as 
for the ulcerative disease within the joint, supposing such to exist, 
that cannot, of course, be in any way ameliorated, supposing it 
not to be aggravated, by such an operation. Lastly, we must not 
be surprised if a second and larger spavin should grow in the 
place from which the first has been removed. 
Caustic has been employed to remove the exostosis. “ Bold 
ignorant men,” as Gibson calls them, have done a vast deal of harm 
by the indiscriminate use of caustic applications of the most potent 
nature — such as arsenic, corrosive sublimate, &c. ; at the same 
time, it is not to be denied that remedies of such powerful agency 
in the hands of those whose observation and experience has taught 
them their legitimate use, are neither to be dreaded nor despised 
I should, myself, lay it down as a rule, on no occasion to be de- 
parted from, that high or genuine spavin, i. e. exostosis seated 
upon the cushion bones, is not a case for the employment of caustic, 
owing to the contiguity of the hock-joints. But that the low or spuri- 
ous spavin — that which is veritably but a hind splent — is the appo- 
site case ; and that to “ take off” such an exostosis, caustic has been, 
and, I believe, by an old and respectable veterinary practitioner of 
my intimate acquaintance continues to be, used with satisfactory 
results. The mode of application is this : — With a sharp-pointed 
conical — sort of elongated budding — iron, red hot, bore holes, half 
an-inch, more or less, in depth, according to the prominence of the 
tumour, into the exostosis, and fill these perforations with a paste 
composed of white arsenic and flour. In due time deep sloughs 
will separate, bringing away the substance of the exostosis, and 
curing probably the lameness, but leaving a wound to granulate 
and cicatrize, ending with enlargement of the hock, both general 
and permanent. 
Periosteotomy as proposed by Mr. Sewell, the present 
Professor at the Royal Veterinary College — in imitation of the 
operation surgeons were in the habit of practising for the mitiga- 
tion or removal of the pain caused by nodes — constitutes the neatest 
and most scientific operation for the cure or relief of the lameness 
arising from exostosis. The theory being, that in splents, &c., as 
in nodes, the pain arose from the tension produced in the peri- 
osteum by the pressure of the tumour growing underneath it, 
division of the periosteal membrane, by slitting it or otherwise, 
