258 
SPAVIN OR NOT! 
To the Editor of “ The Veterinarian .” 
Sir, — I HAVE a pony, thirteen hands, that has been lame in the 
near hind leg for these last three months, and I cannot determine 
whether the injury is in the hock, fetlock, or back sinews: he has 
been used to carry twelve stone weight at a gentle pace these last 
four years, and has never been unwell. 
I cannot detect any spavin, but when he starts on a journey he 
does not flex the hock as he ought ; stepping short, and often trips 
up behind when going down a hill, but after trotting a mile the 
lameness is scarcely perceptible. 
Gentle pressure applied to the tendons behind the fetlock causes 
him to raise the limb as if it gave pain. I have never felt any heat 
about this part, nor the foot, which appears quite healthy ; nor 
does the hip appear to be the seat. The farrier says it is in the 
back sinews, and nothing but a blister and a run at grass will 
benefit him. Is it so] or is there inter articular spavin? Please 
answer in the next Number of The VETERINARIAN, and oblige 
Amylum. 
*** If the lameness be in the fetlock or back sinews, there will 
be detectible tumour and heat and tenderness ; if in the hock, as 
seems more probable, it is not absolutely necessary for spavin to 
make its appearance externally ; the disease may exist within the 
hock joint, and some day may shew itself outside. — E d. Vet. 
MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE. 
Fraud in obtaining a Surgeons Diploma. 
Some time ago, at the High Court of Judiciary, Edinburgh, 
William Duncan, surgeon, Amble, Northumberland, and Alexan- 
der Cumming, surgeon and druggist, Broughton-street, Edinburgh, 
were charged with forgery, and a conspiracy to procure a diploma 
from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, to enable 
William Duncan to practise surgery and pharmacy without his 
actually appearing before the examinators appointed by the College 
to take the candidates for diplomas upon trial, by means of Cum- 
ming assuming the character of Duncan, and undergoing the 
necessary examination. In furtherance of this design, Cumming 
obtained from the Conservator of the College a printed form of a 
schedule required to be filled up and properly attested by the 
