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BOOK NOTICE. 
BOOK NOTICE. 
THE PATHOLOGY AND THERAPIE OF SPAVIN. 1875. Pages 234. By 
W. Dieckerhoff, Teacher of Hygiene, Dietetics, Obstetrics and Medical 
History at the Berlin Institute, and Conductor of the Visiting Clinic. Price, 
6 marks ($1.50.) 
In looking over the numbers of our Review for the past year I am 
surprised to find we have given no attention to foreign veterinary liter¬ 
ature other than the occasional translations. In order to make amends 
for this want, the writer proposes to take the responsibility with regard 
to German literature on himself, and will hereafter make notice of all .• 
valuable additions from this source, and, as time offers, call attention 
to some books of value which belong to the past and present. The 
above mentioned monograph by Herr Dieckerhoff is a work which 
should be studied by every veterinary student and every stock raiser 
who commands control enough of the German language to read it. I 
am not saying too much when I say it contains not only all there is 
known on the subject in other works, but also some new and very valu¬ 
able ideas. The writer has carefully passed in review the views of 
authors on this subject in all countries where veterinary literature has 
been published. He begins with a very interesting sketch of'the de¬ 
rivation of the word spavin—“spat,” “ eparvin ”—and, with Hering, 
considers it to have been derived from “ spavenius ” first used by Jor- 
danus Rufus (1250). It is not clear whether Rufus formed the word or 
not. 
The author then passes in critical review the ideas upon this sub¬ 
ject of J. Rufus, Marx Fugger, Thomas Blundeville, Ruini, Frichter, 
Solleysell, Saunier, Gibson, Lind, Bourgelat, Lafosse, Rohlwes, Have- 
mann, Hering, Schrader, Williams, and many other authorities of the 
past and present. 
His views of the origin of spavin, that is, of its place of origin, 
vary much from other authors, and have not as yet gained any great 
acceptance. The Germans divide the “ flexor metatarsi,” into two dis¬ 
tinct parts and rightly, not considering the supporting (?) ligament as 
belonging to the m. tibialis auticus. As known, the inferior insertion 
of the so-called suspensory ligament is formed of two branches, the 
medial of which ends upon the antero median superior extremity of 
the metatarsi, and os tarsili secundam (os cuneiforme sec.) Over this 
