CHAPTER XII.

LIMBS--THEIR ACCIDENTS AND THEIR DISEASES.

OSSEOUS DEPOSITS--SPAVIN.

"One horse could wear out two pairs of legs," is an old jockey's phrase. Most men, when purchasing a dumb slave, pay great attention to the lower extremities. If an animal be used up or has performed hard work, the indications are sure to be found on those parts; but what a comment does the language and the act referred to pass upon the conduct of those masters, the history of whose treatment, or rather whose abuse of a living creature, is thus sought for and often found upon a breathing frame!

Before the strength has departed, or the legitimate number of years are exhausted, cruelty deprives a most obedient drudge of its power to serve. The history of almost every horse in this kingdom is a struggle to exist against human endeavors to deprive it of utility. Nature, when she made the animal, formed a creature hardly second to her master-piece in anatomical perfection; the legs are strong, but, in his impatience and in his blind obedience to the dictates of fashion, man _will_ put them to their fullest use before their structure is confirmed. Racers go into training when one year old. Carriage horses, omnibus machinery, cart horses, nags, roadsters, may-birds, and park hacks generally come into work about the third year. The animal, however, does not cut all its teeth till the completion of its fifth birthday. It requires to look upon eight seasons before its adult period is entered upon; and yet at the third year, or before that period, it is put to such work as only a horse can or does perform.

When the horse was designed to be only matured, the frivolity of mankind pronounces the creature to be _aged_. The life is, indeed, generally worthless before the eighth year is entered upon. The young flesh, bones, and sinews, long before that time arrives, are made the seats of poignant diseases. Work, not in the first instance laborious, but sudden and energetic beyond what the frame of the young horse can endure, casts it out of the gentleman's stable. Once removed from that place, its descent is rapid. From the carriage to the cab is a leap often cleared in equine history; but every change adds misery to its lot. It fares worse, lodges worse, and works harder with every new proprietor, till at length, as its years and wretchedness accumulate, Nature interposes and takes the sufferer to herself.

At the head of this article stands an engraving of the mildest form of reward which docility reaps by service unto cruelty. When will this land, which so loudly boasts its Christianity, apply in its fullness and its strength the sacred maxim--"Do unto others as you would others should do unto you"? When will churchmen teach that the religion which does not enlarge the heart toward every breathing life upon the earth, is unworthy of the _Christian_ title? Men who would rage to hear their faith called in question, nevertheless feel no shame when they urge the young steed to that act which probably will cripple the animal for the short remainder of its life.

=Spavin=, =splint=, or =ring-bone= are no more the legitimate consequences of equine existence, than nodes and anchylosis are the natural inheritances of human beings; yet what would the world look like, if men had their motions impeded and their joints firmly locked by bony deposits in anything like the proportion which such misfortunes are witnessed in the inferior life? The most useful, the most trusting, and the most joyous of animals is the one toward which man acts as though his study was to abuse the authority intrusted to him. Its utility lies in its legs; its play also is a canter; but before its body is set, its limbs are disabled. Kindness can subdue the creature, which, however, is never taken out of its prison without the whip; it is treated as a thing without feeling: but its body is not more impressible to brutality than its feelings are sensitive to gentleness. The one is often injured, and the others are frequently vitiated by the master it too literally obeys.

Spavin and splint both are the change of ligamentous structure into bone: spavin occurs at the inner and lower part of the hock; splint also may be sometimes found at the same part of the knee. The name splint is likewise applied to any bony enlargement upon the shins or below the hocks and the knees.

Splints in the fore leg are mostly seen on the inner side. On the hind limb, however, such growths principally favor the outer side. The advent of splint, when near the knee, is generally accounted for by saying the inner side of the joint lies more under the center of gravity, and, therefore, is the more exposed to injury. Such an interpretation, however, leaves the preference for the outer locality--when splints are witnessed on the hind leg--unexplained. Perhaps the reader will--after having contemplated the two following engravings, and subsequent to having observed that the artery of the hinder limb crosses the inferior part of the hock, to take its course down the outer side of the leg, while in the fore extremity the vessel continues along the inner side of the shin-bone--conclude with the author that, in splint, the distribution of the blood is more to be regarded than the weight, which, originally conveyed through a ball-and-socket joint, can hardly afterward affect one part to the release of the rest.

Having explained the peculiarity attending some bony tumors on the hind extremity, it now becomes our duty to explain what actually constitutes a spavin. Any bony growth or bony enlargement, however small, which is to be seen or felt upon the inner side of the hock, is a "spavin." But of spavins there are three kinds. The low sort, or the "Jack" of the horse-dealer's phraseology. This answers to the splint of the fore leg, and originates in the top of the splint bone.

The bony enlargement, should it be located comparatively high upon the joint, often produces acute and incurable lameness. When low down, the granules of bone have little to interfere with. Being placed higher up, the tendons have to play over the osseous deposit; and, when that happens, the cure is hopeless.

The above form of disease, however, does not ensue upon every case of spavin. Many good racers, and most seasoned hunters, have spavins, which do not in any way detract from their speed, however much these growths may interfere with their action.

Bony spavin does, when the quadruped starts, sensibly deteriorate that grace of motion which should characterize the action of the perfect horse. During the trot, the leg should be lifted clear of the earth, while, by an involuntary movement within the hock-joint, the hoof is inclined outward. This peculiarity is exhibited in the engraving on page 289, which supposes the spectator to be standing by the side of the animals.

Exostosis, formed on any part, locks together the bones which the deposit may involve, or it unites the several distinct parts into one osseous mass. By the bones of the hock being thus joined, all movement of the shin is effectually prevented; the foot of a spavined horse is, to a spectator who is laterally situated, always presented in a side view. Moreover, when severe spavin is present, the entire flexion of the lower portion of the limb is rendered impossible.

The toes being moved along, instead of being lifted from the ground, occasions the hoof and shoe to suffer wear. The hoof generally presents a toe blunted by perpetual friction; while the shoe of a spavined horse is, in front, worn to a state of positive sharpness. These indications of disease should always be sought for, and, when present, they are so obvious as hardly to be mistaken.

Another test for spavin consists in observation made upon the manner of going. A horse thus affected comes out of the stable always stiff, and sometimes lame. Exercise, by warming the body, seems to soften the stubbornness of the disease; and the same animal, which left the stable in a crippled condition, may return to it in a state which, to the generality of gentlemen, would represent soundness. So well are dealers acquainted with this fact, that it is a custom with these folks for a spavined horse to be warmed before it is shown to a probable purchaser. No person, however, should hazard an opinion on any quadruped which is not perfectly cool, especially when there is a motive to be suspected of the slightest desire for a favorable judgment. The horse which, after exercise, should trot past with no obvious sign of spavin, having stood for an hour in the stable, would come forth a decided cripple, or, at all events, with such faulty action that a novice would immediately detect something wrong about the legs. This peculiarity is illustrated by the engraving which heads the present chapter.

Should the dealer refuse to exhibit the animal when cool, such refusal would be convincing evidence as to the condition of the horse. The sale should, under such circumstances, be at once repudiated.

However, when judging of disease, it is always well to divest the mind of every kind of prejudice. Animals of a certain kind of conformation are said to be disposed, or to be more than ordinarily subject, to spavin. Creatures of the foregoing sort show what are denominated sickle-hocks or cow-hocks. A sickle-hock is not a diseased joint, but it is one which the majority of horsemen have stigmatized as very liable to become diseased. Weakness, it it is only natural to imagine, such a malformation indicates; but, so far as the author's experience goes, creatures thus formed often continue sound when limbs of model shape give way.

It is now our duty to inform the reader how to examine a horse for spavin. In this operation there are four points of view to be taken--behind the animal, though always at a safe distance from the heels; in the front, but not close to the horse, yet so near that the examiner must bend to view the hocks between the fore legs; and from both the sides. In all these positions, it is prudent now to elongate the distance and now to approach nearer; then to move the head about, and occasionally to step to the right or to the left. In short, it is advisable to get as many different points of sight as possible; for in one, and only in one, may a spavin be detected on the hock, which, seen from any other spot, shall look perfectly clean. At the same time, from every point care should be taken to compare one hock with the other; if the slightest difference in point of size can be detected, it is fair to suppose one is enlarged by the commencement of disease. Any indication of this sort is always to be sought for. The disease may have just begun, but it is impossible to say where it may stop. The spavin may be very small; yet who can assert its growth is perfected? In the examination for spavin, however, allowance should be made for the age of the horse. Spavins, in young horses, may be regarded with alarm; in old animals, they generally are perfected, and, however large they may be, probably they will grow no bigger--on the contrary, as the years increase, they are usually diminished, being absorbed; but the bones, once locked together, are never subsequently unloosed, although all the swelling should entirely disappear.

The examination having been up to this point properly performed, there is yet another test to be adopted before the animal is trotted forth; here a well-trained and attentive groom is of every value--one who will keep on the same side as you may be upon, and who will follow your footsteps whenever you change from right to left. The duty of this groom is to hold up the front leg; the more stress is placed upon his attention, because no horse can kick with the hind foot of that side upon which one fore leg is off the ground. The attempt would deprive the body of all lateral support, and a fall would ensue; whereas many quadrupeds can, for a short time, balance themselves upon two legs, each being on opposite sides of the body: therefore the examiner, probably engrossed in his occupation, would be in considerable danger, should the groom forget to follow his movements.

Most horses are averse to having the hocks fingered; such liberties are apt to call up vehement indignation; it is necessary, therefore, to guard him who undertakes to inspect them. This the groom does most effectually; but the examiner should also take some caution--he should stand as close to the foot of the horse as may be convenient. Thus, should the animal kick out, he may escape, or, at most, be very rudely pushed on one side. The horse's kick is only severe after the heels have reached some distance, or have obtained power by propulsion; for that reason is the advice given to stand as near the hind foot as may be convenient.

Being in this situation, one hand is laid upon the top of the hock, and the entire weight of the body is brought to bear upon that part. The object is three-fold--to obtain, by this means, the earliest intimation of any design on the part of the animal to use the limb; to impede in some measure the extension of the leg; and to gain a point of rest on which to lean, while the head is bent forward to inspect, the free hand being employed to feel the part appropriate to spavin. Afterward comes the trot, the peculiarities to be detected in which have been anticipated.

Now we encounter the important question, What can be done for a spavined horse? If the animal be not lame, let it alone. However large, however unsightly the deposit may be, do not run the chance of exciting a new action in a part where disease exists in a quiescent form.

The regular treatment is to purge, give diuretics, bleed, blister, rowel, seton, periostoteomy, neurotomy, fire, and punch. The bleeding may be great or small, local or general; the blister, mild or severe, applied over half the joint at a time, or rubbed in after the limb has been scored by the iron. Rowels and setons may also be simple, or they may be smeared with irritants, which are made of different strengths. Periostoteomy may be single, or may be made compound by the addition of a seton and a blister. Neurotomy is very unsatisfactory, and very often a most tedious affair when employed to cure spavin. The fire may be down to the true skin; it may be through the skin, and on to the tumor; or it may be inflicted by means of a blunt-pointed instrument, which, when heated, burns its way into the bone itself. The punch also admits of variety; it may be with or without a blister; it may be holes made in a living body, which holes are filled with a corroding paste. Or the operation may consist of the exposure of the bone, and cutting off the offending portion with a saw, or knocking away part of a breathing frame with a chisel and a mallet.

All these tortures have for centuries been inflicted; they have been practiced upon thousands of animals, only for men, at this day, to doubt whether the cruelty has been attended with the slightest service. Flesh, as capable of feeling as our own, has been cut, irritated, burnt, and punched for hundreds of years; and now, at the twelfth hour, such operations are not discarded, but their efficacy is mildly questioned.

Reader, if you have a horse which is lame from spavin, and your calculations tell you it will not pay to nurse the cripple, have it slaughtered. Do not consent to have it tortured for a chance; do not sell it to the certainty of a terrible old age and of immediate torment.

The cure for spavin is good food and rest--perfect rest: such rest or stagnation as a healthy horse submits to in the stable. This, enjoined for months, with the occasional application of a mild blister, with the best of food, to enable nature to rectify man's abuse, will do more good, cost no more money, and occupy no more time than the devilries usually adopted, and very often adopted without success. As an additional motive on the side of humanity, it may be stated that the horse suffers much more when disease is located in the hind than when it is exhibited upon the fore leg. The ravages which, in the first case, would endanger the life, in the last would be borne with comparative tranquillity. The posterior parts of the animal seem to be endowed with exquisite sensibility; yet, in spite of this, the so-called cure for spavin, and the boasted treatment for ages, only consists in torturing the hocks of the animal.

While inflammation exists, apply poultices, and well rub the part with a mixture of belladonna and of opium--one ounce of each drug rubbed down with one ounce of water. Or place opium and camphor on the poultices; or rub the enlargement with equal parts of chloroform and camphorated oil. The pain having subsided and the heat being banished, apply, with friction, some of the following ointment. It may reduce the disease by provoking absorption; at all events, it will check all further growth by rendering further deposit almost an impossibility.

Iodide of lead One ounce. Simple ointment Eight ounces. Mix.

SPLINT.

The horse, could it only speak, would have sufficient cause to overwhelm man with its injuries. It is to be hoped that He who heeds not language, but reads the heart, will not peruse the horror written on that of the most contented and sweetest-dispositioned of man's many slaves. It is true, colts have spavin and splints. Creatures, whose days of bitterness are as yet to come, exhibit exostoses; but these blemishes are the sad inheritances of the cruel service exacted by thoughtless masters from the progenitors of the deformed. Nature gave the horse a fibro-cartilaginous or elastic union to particular bones, so that all its motions might be bounding and graceful. The animal, thus formed, was presented to man; but the gift was not prized by him to whom it was given. The authority possessed was abused. The capability of the horse was only measured by what it was able, at the risk of its life, to perform. The most humane of modern proprietors is an ignorant tyrant to his graceful bond-servant. The most meek of owners likes his horse to possess high action. The consequence is, the leg, lifted from the ground to the highest possible point, is forcibly driven again to the earth. This pace is imposed upon a creature so docile, it only seeks to learn that which pleases its master, and, in the entirety of its confidence, never mistrusts its instructor. The lesson is learned. The animal soon becomes proud to exhibit its acquirement. High action, however--especially that kind of action the horse is taught to exemplify--soon deranges the system. It breeds inflammation in the fibro-cartilaginous tissues, upon which its chief strain is felt. The union between the splint bones and the cannon, or between the shin-bone and the accessories, one on either side, speedily becomes converted into osseous matter.

However, man cannot say to nature, "Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther," otherwise the alteration of structure, if unseen, might distress the horse, but would little affect the owner. A diseased action, once started up, is apt to involve other parts than those in which it originated. Thus, a splint is strictly an exostosis or bony tumor on the inner and lower part of the knee-joint; but there are found to be others which this definition will not embrace. Here, for instance, are the ordinary kinds of splint to be seen, more or less, in every animal subject to man's usage.

Number 1 is unsightly. Moreover, it gives an unpleasant jar to the rider of the poor horse thus deformed; and few men, when they state this fact, ever think of what sensation that which jars the equestrian must occasion to the steed. It will produce lameness at first; but, this surmounted and the tumor fully formed, it causes no inconvenience beyond a loss of elasticity when in motion; and because it provokes no lameness, man says it is unattended by feeling.

Figure 2 is a splint on the side of the leg. It also is unsightly, and produces a disagreeable sensation to the person in the saddle. Moreover, it is exposed to accidents. If the horse has high and close action, the tumor may be struck when the foot is being raised. Such a possibility is not altogether free from danger. The horse, having grazed the swelling, will often fall down as though it were shot. That circumstance warrants the supposition that these growths are not quite so devoid of sensibility as most horse owners are pleased to assert they are.

The slight enlargement, opposite which stands figure 3, denotes a growth of small size. It may be of no great consequence, if it appear on a vacant part of the bone, or on a place over which no tendon passes; but it is of serious import, if situated beneath a tendon, as then it causes incurable lameness.

Man having provoked these blemishes, Nature generally strives to remove the effects of his stupidity. She will smooth the top of the tumor by the interposition of cartilage and of ligament, that the skin may not be irritated when passing over these enlargements. She will also develop a false bursa on the top of each, thereby causing the integument to move with an approach to ease.

Yet there are other sorts of splints which often are very serious affairs. That the reader may comprehend these, let him attend to the next engraving.

1--Represents a splint which has involved the bones of the knee, and which has left the horse only the joint formed by the lower end of the radius to progress with. This is a sad business. The action is injured for life; and death, or a cart, is the lot of the wretched animal so diseased.

2--Shows fine points of bone, so placed that they would impinge upon the suspensory ligament, if not upon the flexor tendons. Lameness, in its acutest form, would thereby be caused wherever the limb was bent. The lameness, probably, would last till death, as splints in this situation are rarely discovered during life.

3--Denotes an enlargement, probably produced by a blow received during a leap, or given by an impatient groom. It is placed directly under one of the extensor tendons. In consequence of this minute substance, the severest agony is endured, or the most marked lameness exhibited, whenever the leg is advanced.

The great majority of these maladies may result from the present rage for high action, and the too general practice of pushing the horse beyond his speed. Racers and hunters commonly have splints: almost every roadster exhibits them. Few draught-horses are without them: they are all but universal. It may be easy to detect or to feel a full-sized splint; but it is rather difficult to discover these tumors when they are small, or when they are just beginning to develop themselves. At that period they are most painful. They may be mere deformities when fully formed; but, when growing, though not to be seen, they are apt to cause decided lameness.

The cause of such failing action very often can only be guessed at. To detect a fully-developed splint, stand at the side of the animal's leg and grasp the posterior part of the shin; then, by running the thumb down on one side and the fingers on the other, in the groove formed by the junction of the two small splint-bones with the cannon-bone, the examiner may recognize enlargement or feel heat, should either exist. By making pressure where the heat or swelling is perceived, he may cause the leg to be snatched up. Should nothing result from this trial, the animal is trotted gently up and its action is observed. Horses with splints, when lame, generally "dish" or turn the leg outward, when it is raised from the ground. That is done because the bending of the limb pressed the splint-bone downward, the outward carriage of the shin being an endeavor to lessen the pain which attends upon the natural action.

Should no "dishing" be remarked, next observe whether the leg is fully flexed or advanced; and, after the hints thus received, the investigation may be resumed with a better prospect of success.

The treatment of splint is conveyed in the old maxim, "time and patience." Rest will do more than physic. A man, therefore, may as well let his horse rest in his own stable, as pay for rest, lodging, and useless treatment in another place. Splints, moreover, if only subjected to rest, accompanied with liberal feeding, are likely the sooner to attain their maximum magnitude. If they are interfered with under the pretense of treatment, the irritation may cause them to increase; thus the proprietor, through his impatience, may purchase an injury.

When they are acutely painful, a poultice, on which one drachm of opium and one drachm of camphor is sprinkled, will frequently afford relief. They may also, at such times, be rubbed with a drachm of chloroform combined with two drachms of camphorated oil. These measures, however simple, aim at mitigating the present symptoms--they do not even infer the possibility of curing the disease. Periostoteomy pretended to do something of that sort; but has failed so often, it is now seldom recommended by practiced veterinarians.

When, however, a particle of the bone interferes with a tendon, the lameness is so acute that often the choice lies between cure and death; for some, even of present proprietors, scorn to sell a favorite horse which has become sick in their service. In these cases, it is lawful to open the skin, and with a fine saw, a chisel or a sharp knife, to remove the offending growth; after the operation, leave the skin open and dress the wound with a lotion made of chloride of zinc one grain, to water one ounce. This application has the great merit of keeping down granulations; but employ nothing irritating to the bone, or the result may be worse than the injury which has been removed.

Splints sometimes occur on the outer side of the hind leg; there, however, they are little thought of. The hind leg propels the horse, but does not support its body; therefore, splints of this last sort are less unpleasant to the rider. The hind leg, not bearing much weight, splints, when situated on that member, do not occasion very severe lameness, and the enlargement being located upon the outside of the shin, is thereby removed from the possibility of being struck by the opposite hoof. For these reasons, splints of the foregoing nature are considered trifles, and are rarely esteemed worthy of much notice.

To check the further enlargement of a splint with a fair chance of also removing the deformity--though with no hope of releasing the parts locked together by bony union--employ the ointment already recommended for spavin:--

Iodide of lead One ounce. Simple ointment Eight ounces. Mix, and apply with friction thrice daily.

RING-BONE.

The whole soul of the horse seems devoted to man's will; who has not seen a team of small but sturdy horses contrive to drag a heavy load up a steep hill, as though nothing could afford them such content as to leave their hoofs behind them! What Londoner but has witnessed the cart-horse dig its toes into the stones of Ludgate Hill, and make the muscles bulge out upon the glossy coat as though life had but one object, and to that object the animal was straining every nerve!

A sight such as this, when properly contemplated, cannot otherwise than teach man to esteem his fellow-laborer; for what creature on earth toils so willingly in the service of humanity as the horse? At any hour it is ready--in health it is willing, and in sickness it is obedient; even when worn out, entirely used up and driven to the slaughter-house, it looks upon its slayer with large placid eyes, stands quietly in the place where it is bid, with no mistrust in the kindness of its abuser, and ends a life of devotion by accepting the blow almost as a favor. It is the only animal which lives but to more than share the burden of its owner; yet, of all existing quadrupeds, the horse is the most ill treated.

=Ring-bone= is an osseous deposit; so far it resembles splint and spavin: it differs, however, in the kind of horses it attacks. Splint and spavin are principally witnessed upon quadrupeds of speed. Ring-bone is all but confined to the cart-horse. It is caused by those violent efforts this animal makes, in obedience to the voice of the driver, when dragging a heavy load up some sharp ascent. The entire force is then thrown upon the bones of the pastern; inflammation ensues; lymph is effused; the lymph becomes cartilage, and the cartilage is converted into bone. Then an exostosis is established, and a ring-bone is the consequence.

The disease may implicate one or more bones; it may involve one or more joints; it may also be confined to one bone; it may be either partial or complete. It may exist as a slight enlargement in front of the bone, or it may quite encircle it. On page 299 is a specimen of the disease. The exostosis, as in this case, was prominent during life. The disease did not quite encircle the bones, and though, when the preparation was dried, the different parts could be slightly moved one upon another, yet, during life, the joints were firmly locked.

One of the above sketches depicts this disease as it appeared prior to death. The reader has now to consider the consequences of such a deformity; it materially interferes with the value. The hind limbs are the instruments of propulsion in the horse; these are much incapacitated by the presence of ring-bone. An animal thus affected might move an easy load upon even ground; but when the weight had to be drawn up hill, the creature would obviously be unable to use the toe; the foot, placed flat upon the ground, or so shod as to have an even bearing, would perceptibly be of comparatively little use in such a case. So, also, in descending an inequality, the horse with severe ring-bone will be unable to bite the earth. Ring-bone, therefore, does incapacitate the animal for many uses, besides interfering with the free employment of the muscular energy; no persuasion or brutality can induce a maimed animal to cast its full weight upon a diseased limb. The pace may be quickened by the lash; but the horse will, nevertheless, continue to hop when the affected member touches the earth.

Let mankind, therefore, reflect that the horse is given as their fellow-laborer. The life of the quadruped is the property of the master; but who, being sane, would abuse his own property? The being who should destroy chairs and tables--although such things can be mended--would be speedily confined as mad. Yet it has not entered the mind of man, as a reasonable idea, that to deface a living image--to destroy the value or to deteriorate the property which is present in the animal--deserves more than the very mildest of punishments. The breathing creature, when defaced, cannot be made sound again. Horse property is notoriously hazardous. It should be the care of men to use a tender thing with a greater gentleness. Instead of which, horses are galloped till they become blind, and lashed to drag weights beyond the proper limits of their strength. Men, who never think in whom the fault really lies, complain that Providence has not suited the horse to purposes such as would derange most iron-wrought machines!

When a horse first shows ring-bone, seek to allay the pain. Apply poultices, on which one drachm of powdered opium and one of camphor has been sprinkled. Rub the disease with equal parts of oil of camphor and of chloroform. The pain having ceased, have applied, with friction, to the seat of enlargement and around it, some of the following ointment, night and morning:--

Iodide of lead One ounce. Lard Eight ounces. Mix.

Continue treatment for a fortnight after all active symptoms have disappeared, and allow the animal to rest--being liberally fed for at least a month subsequent to the cessation of every remedy. When work is resumed, mind it is gentle, and be very careful how the horse goes to its full labor.

STRAIN OF THE FLEXOR TENDON.

The flexor tendons of the legs are liable to a variety of accidents. Injuries to these structures, according to their severity, are denominated: =strain of the flexor tendon=, =clap of the back sinews=, =sprain of the back sinews=, and =breaking down=.

The first accident is common enough, and springs from the horse being forced to perform extraordinary work on uneven ground. Else it is caused by the irritability of the rider; tugging now at one rein, then at the other; forcing a timid animal into strange contortions, and at the same time elevating the head, thereby throwing all the strain upon the muscles. This is a spectacle repeatedly presented to him who walks about town. An angry rider is seen sawing, without compunction, at the mouth of some patient horse. The spectators look on complacently.

There is nothing offensive to them in an enraged man venting his anger on an unoffending creature. Were the act generally reprehended, it would not be so frequently exhibited; but the only emotion the contemplation of another's brutality appears to elicit, is a desire in the passengers to provide for their own security.

The main cause, however, of the most prevalent of these sad deformities is that of the shaft-horse descending a steep declivity with a load behind it. The weight would roll down the descent: this the horse has to prevent, and the chief stress is then upon the back tendons. The injuries to such parts are generally of a chronic character. The strain seldom occasions decided lameness. But the horse being harnessed to the shafts, the cause is in daily operation. The part injured is being constantly excited. Thus, without the development of a single acute symptom, the tendons are stretched--a low kind of inflammation is generated--and this action being kept up, the sinews gradually lose their elasticity, and shorten.

When strain of the fore leg is received, the animal goes oddly, but is not lame. However, if put into the stable and taken out the next morning, the horse is found to be stiff and apparently very cramped. The halting action may disappear upon exercise; but assuredly it will again be present on the following dawn. The proprietor may resolve to work "the brute" sound. Such a speculation with disease may occasionally answer; but, on the large scale, it is a losing game, for it more often fails than succeeds: the limb, on work, commonly does not amend. The symptoms are aggravated in every way; and what was curable in the first stage is apt, after the lapse of time, to degenerate into an intractable malady. The many horses to be seen in the London cab ranks, with the fore limbs permanently contracted, are evidences as to the result of such very knowing treatment.

When a horse slightly strains the flexor tendon, do not expect to discover the seat of the affection till several hours have elapsed. Then pass the hand gently down the injured limb. A small swelling may be detected. The enlargement may feel soft, slightly warm, but hardly tender. Bind a linen bandage round the leg rather tightly, and keep this constantly wet with cold water. For the three first nights, have men to sit up in the stable and perform that operation. After that time, if everything goes on well, wet the limb only during the day.

Throw up the horse till more than recovered, and do not put it to full work till some period after that event. Give immediately four drachms of aloes. Allow only two feeds of corn per day; but do not turn out to graze, under the idea that it saves cost and gives a chance that the animal may be taken up sound. At grass, the horse must walk many miles to eat poor food, sufficient to support life. This kind of motion will not suit a strain, which does best with absolute rest. Keep, therefore, in a stall, and do not begrudge the necessary meat to support the life which has suffered injury, and is now enduring pain, in consequence of exertion made in your service.

CLAP OF THE BACK SINEWS.

When the accident is more severe, and the sprain more decided, it is spoken of as "=clap of the back sinews=;" this is a serious affair. The usual fate of the wretched animal thus maimed is to be sold to the highest bidder. It passes from a carefully-tended stable to some wretched out-shed; and its new master is made happy, if the crippled horse can only limp, and somehow get through a day's labor. No pity is wasted upon agony; "the beast," as it is now called, has to live worse, work harder, and drag out a miserable existence with the heavy burden of an almost useless limb.

Clap of the back sinews results from exertion; it may be the work of an instant. The horse sometimes is pulled up, or, in severe cases, it falls. If it be pulled up, it refuses to move at a quicker pace than a hobble, and stands still again so soon as whip or spur are not applied to the sufferer's body. The maimed limb is flexed, and rests upon the toe of the injured leg. There can be no mistake now about the seat of lameness; the foot of the affected limb will hardly be put to the ground. The seat of the malady is soon declared. In a short space a tumor displays itself; it is small, hot, tender, and soft, in the first instance, though it soon enlarges, and grows very hard. The animal does not exhibit much constitutional distress, for it requires excessive pain to call forth such a display in the patient and most enduring horse.

Physic is necessary in this case; a gentle blood-letting, even, may be required, followed by a few doses of febrifuge medicine; but the treatment should be carried no further than is necessary to reduce the pulse to fifty-five degrees. The leg should be wrapped in a stout linen bandage; day and night the part should be saturated with the coldest possible water until the primary symptoms have abated. Cut grass should be the food while any fever rages, but no longer, for the wish is not to destroy the powers of reparation by weakening the body. The cold water should be continued till recovery appears confirmed; but it will be many months before the horse, thus disabled, will again be fit for full or energetic work. Commonly, however, this accident takes place in the hunting-field; and sportsmen, silly as may be their amusements, are no niggards. If they occasionally injure a horse, they will spare no expense that can aid its restoration; and a summer's rest may not be thrown away upon the favorite which has met with such a mishap. However, the mark will remain for life--an obvious swelling will, during existence, denote the place where clap occurred to the back sinews.

SPRAIN OF THE BACK SINEWS.

=Sprain of the back sinews= of the hind legs is very general among animals which have to perform slow work upon hilly roads. People in the carrier trade can afford to bestow small attention upon the lameness which does not incapacitate. Every journey, however, aggravates the disease. The horse works on till his owner is told by the blacksmith the animal's legs are contracting, and higher calkins are given as a cure.

At length, however, calkins become of no use. The work continues, and the disease progresses. The position of the foot is now so altered, that the smith discovers his office is unable to render the animal useful. Perhaps these circumstances would little affect the owner, but the horse evidently loses power. At first it is longer on the road. The passengers grumble at the delay, (for country carriers reap no little profit by carrying passengers;) and the driver, flog as he may, can oblige the horse to move no faster. Excessive beating is apt to provoke pity; and every word of pity which is lavished on the evidently eager animal is distasteful to the carrier, who vents his anger upon the wretched cause of all "this rumpus."

At last the horse cannot guide the cart down hill, even when lightly loaded. Assistance is at first procured; but very soon the assistant has to do all the labor. The proprietor cannot imagine what ails his horse; it keeps getting worse and worse. He takes the animal to a farrier. Remedies--oils and blisters--are applied to no effect. A veterinary surgeon is consulted, and the master learns that the only hope left him lies in division of the tendons of the hind leg.--(_See operation._)

When a cart-horse's heel heightens, always attend to the back sinews. Feel them gently, to discover if one place is more tender, harder, softer, or slightly warmer, than the rest. Should this not succeed, pinch them hard, and run the fingers down them, marking the part at which the animal flinches. Healthy tendon will endure any amount of pressure; diseased tendon is acutely sensitive. Having discovered the locality of the injury, order the hair to be cut short. Put a linen bandage round the lesion, and see that it is constantly kept wet; but do not expect a speedy cure. Those structures which are slow to exhibit disease are always tardy in resigning it. Bone and tendon are of this kind.

Therefore do not expect any relief before three months have expired, and it will certainly be six months before the horse is fit to resume labor. Do not blister, bleed, seton, or fire: these things are expensive, and occupy much time. Have patience. Grant the time which the supposed specifics would employ, and the effect, with or without their use, is very likely to be the same. The only remedy for a badly-contracted tendon is an operation, and to that subject the reader is referred.

The horse, however, which has been subjected to such a remedy will never be fit for its former uses. No art can restore the primary strength of nature, although human intelligence may arrest the progress of disease. The thought, that the consequences of ill treatment are not always to be eradicated, should surely induce greater care of that property which, once lost to man, can never be replaced.

When a tendinous structure is injured, the best treatment is gentleness and patience. Blisters, setons, etc. can only change an acute disorder into a chronic deformity. Entire rest, with such applications as ease the attendant agony, and a sympathy that can afford to wait upon a tardy restoration, are better than all pretended specifics.

BREAKING DOWN.

=Breaking down= is the severest injury which the tendons can endure. In proof of this may be cited the general notion that, when a racer breaks down, some of the back sinews are ruptured. This, however, does not often occur; but though the tendons are, generally, only severely sprained, some of the finer tissues, which enter into the composition of the leg, are in all cases actually sundered.

The animal is at its full pace--doing its utmost, and delighting its rider, who feels confident of coming in first. Instantaneously the horse loses the power of putting one fore leg to the ground. The jockey knows what has taken place. He flings himself from the saddle, and hastily glances at the animal's foot. It probably is distorted; or, perchance, the accident may have taken effect higher up, and the injury merely be severe clap of the back sinews. Be it which it may, with a heavy heart at loss of money and credit, thus suddenly snatched from him, the jockey leads the horse toward the stand, or, by the shortest road, to the stable.

Many horses, after encountering this accident, are instantly shot. The poor animals, by such a proceeding, are saved from a painful cure and a crippled existence. Such conduct is, however, seldom actuated by thoughts of mercy. Nevertheless, to an animal of motion, whose every feeling is displayed by means of its limbs, and which is instinctively more perfect in action than the most accomplished ballet-master, the incumbrance of a leg misshapen, callous, and unwieldy, must be a serious affliction. The limb is spoiled for life in the horse which has broken down. The pain in time departs; the breathing becomes quiet; the pulse sinks to the normal point; the appetite returns, and the spirits grow to be as high as ever. But no art can replace the structures which have been disorganized; and the limb, after everything approaching to inflammation has subsided, remains a huge, unsightly object--an affliction to its possessor.

The treatment of breaking down has not been much experimented with. However, constitutional measures are, at first, imperative. At the same time, a bandage should be applied to the injured limb, and this bandage should be kept constantly wet with cold water. A high-heeled shoe should be put on as soon as may be possible; but no treatment can hope to restore the horse to its departed agility, or even to fit it for ordinary usefulness. However, should it be a stallion or a mare, it may be as valuable as a sounder animal for stud purposes. Accidents are not hereditary; nor is there any reason why the foal of a horse which has broken down should not excel the progeny of a more fortunate sire. Among racers, emasculation not being the general practice, this opinion may probably save many a favorite from the doom which a disappointed proprietor now too often inflicts.

CURB.

This is one of the evils which chiefly are the property of the better breed of horses. Man delights to show off the animal he is mounted upon. Be it male or female, old or young, the equestrian is always pleased by the prancing of the horse. The creature seems to comprehend, and to derive gratification from obeying the wish of its superior. It enters into the desires of its dictator, without a thought of prudence or a care for its personal safety. In hunting or in racing, the simple horse more than shares the excitement of its rider, and often encounters the severest accidents in consequence of these amusements. That which is pastime to man frequently proves death to his amiable servant. Often is the animal so maimed by these sports as to necessitate its life being taken upon the course or in the field.

These reflections are very painful to any body who appreciated the loving and devoted character of the quadruped. Among the least of its sufferings probably may be reckoned =curb=, although the mark of the affection nearly always remains for life, and the misfortune sometimes quite disables the horse which incurs it. It consists of an enlargement, or a gradual bulging out, at the posterior of the hock.

There is some dispute about the seat of curb. The author examined a hock which had chronic curb, and found the perforan tendon disorganized. The late Mr. W. Percival (the respected originator of the very best work upon the horse and its diseases which is extant in the English language) also inspected a hock, and found the sheath of the tendon more involved than the tendon itself. However, a slight acquaintance with the mystery of anatomy assures us that the tendon must have been stretched when the sheath was injured, since the first invests and is inserted into the last. It is well known that synovial membrane is far more sensitive than tendon. It is therefore probable that the membrane would exhibit disease before the tendon displayed the slightest symptom of being affected. The membrane is also capable of displaying the signs of injury long after every trace may have disappeared from the tendon itself.

The effect of the treatment at present adopted is to confirm the enlargement, or to change the swelling into a lump of callus, which will accompany the sufferer to its death. Curbs are said to be the inheritances of animals of a certain conformation. Horses born with what are termed curby hocks are asserted to be much exposed to this kind of accident. The author has, for many years, particularly inspected animals of this description; and he never recollects to have seen a curb upon a hock of that peculiar conformation. To be sure, no man is likely to select either a hunter or a racer from a tribe thus bearing upon their limbs the signs of weakness. The creatures are consequently exempted from the great provocatives of the accident. However, that the reader may fully comprehend what is meant by a curby hock, one is here represented, together with a sound or naturally-formed, clean joint.

The custom of blistering a horse the instant a curb appears is most injurious. Harm is done, in every point of view, by such a habit. The animal should have a high-heeled shoe put on immediately, so as to ease the overstrained tendon. The part ought then to be kept constantly wet with cold water, so as to lower or disperse the inflammation. It should not be blistered, to heat and increase the vascularity of the structures. A cloth, doubled twice or thrice, is easily kept upon the hock by means of an India-rubber bandage, of the form delineated in the accompanying engraving. Such a cloth, so placed, is afterward to be made constantly cool and wet.

This treatment should be continued; the animal being confined to the stall and made to move as little as possible, until the heat and swelling are diminished and the leg is almost sound. The part being quite cool, a blister should then be rubbed all over the joint; and with that this treatment, in the great majority of cases, is ended. On no account should any man allow his horse's hock to be fired for curb. This is a very general practice; but the author has never witnessed any good result therefrom. He has, however, seen much agony ensue upon the custom. The form of the marks perpetuated upon the skin of a living creature is shown herewith, and were plainly visible in the case of curb, which the writer dissected.

Pulling horses up on their haunches is asserted to be a frequent cause of curb; yet curb is not an accident commonly met with among those animals which drag London carriages. These creatures are being constantly thrown upon their haunches, it being, by ladies, considered "very pretty and very dashing" to make their servants tug at the reins, regardless of the living mouths on which these operate. Pulling suddenly up, however objectionable for other reasons, does not seem to induce curb, as London carriage horses are all but free from that affection. The disease is mainly caused by uneven ground wrenching the limb; by galloping at the topmost speed; by prancing when mounted, or by leaping when after the hounds. Perhaps more curbs are to be seen in a district on which several packs are kept, than in any other part of the country.

OCCULT SPAVIN.

The horse is subject to many fearful maladies, but to none which is more terrible than ulceration between the bones composing the joints. Synovial membrane, cartilage, and bone are without sensation during health. The author hopes his reader is not conscious of a bone in his body; it is also wished that he may read with surprise, that the ends of bones are covered with cartilage, and that many are invested with synovial membrane. As has already been observed, these structures in health are not sensitive; but when disease starts up, be it only the slightest blush of inflammation, the acutest anguish is thereby occasioned.

Ulceration of the joints is, unfortunately, rather common among horses; the animal, while being ridden, usually drops suddenly lame. It has trodden on a rolling stone, or made a false step, or put its foot into some hole, and injured the bone. After a little time, continuance of the impaired gait causes the rider to dismount; nothing is to be found in the foot, yet the animal is taken to the stable decidedly lame. The foot is searched, the limb is examined, pressure, even of the hardest kind, is endured with provoking complacency. No heat or swelling can be discovered; but one thing is to be discerned, the lameness is most emphatic. After some time, a peculiarity in the trot may be remarked; the lame foot hardly touches the earth before it is snatched up again, and that very energetically. Then, closer observation notes that the leg, when flexed, is always carried in a direct line, as it is when displaying the symptoms of bony spavin. The hoof is never even partially turned outward. Still, neither of these traits is always displayed in so prominent a manner as to force attention; frequently, a conclusion is to be drawn only from negative testimony--as the duration of the lameness, the soundness of the foot, and the perfect condition of the tendons; these evidences, taken with the suddenness of the complaint, cause the practitioner to comprehend he has a case of =occult spavin= under treatment.

Such is the origin of the disease: some authors assert the synovial membrane has been ruptured; some, on the contrary, say the bone has been injured. The author, knowing nothing, cannot tell how the disease begins, but he knows that from the date of its origin the horse is lame; very bad one day, but better, probably, the next. Generally improved after rest, and always badly limping subsequent to work; never to be depended upon, for proprietors say the animal is sure, wherever its services are required, to be obstinately lame.

Usually the wretched horse is blistered; setoned; blistered again; and, at last, fired. All failing to do the smallest good, the horse is next turned out for three months; while at grass, the poor animal, with an acutely diseased joint, which is enlarged and stiffened by mistaken treatment, has to take one step for every morsel it bites of poor and watery food. It is forced to travel long and far, or literally to starve; its body must rest upon the ulcerated bone, and the weight even be increased by the pendulous head before enough herbage can be cropped to sustain the life. At every step two ulcerated surfaces grate upon each other and are forced violently together; while anguish consumes the flesh, the nature of the food may keep in the life, but cannot otherwise than depress the spirits. Besides, the horse has been turned from a sheltered stall where it was daily groomed, into a field where it has to brave the utmost stress of the elements, uncared for and unnoticed.

At the end of three months the horse is taken up: to the master's disgust, it is found to be not looking smarter and not to be going sounder. More routine treatment is now permitted, and the diseased limb undergoes further torture; another three months is passed, and the lameness becomes worse than ever. The proprietor is loath to part with his property; but he often says "he wishes the animal were dead." At last, losing all patience, and never having possessed any care for the life which had suffered injury in his service, the horse is lent to some carter, who undertakes to "work it sound." This process never, in occult spavin, succeeds; the wretched quadruped gets worse day by day, till neither oaths nor lashes can prevent misery from limping on three legs.

At length, worked to a skeleton, the horse is returned to its proprietor, who, inviting pity upon _his_ misfortune, that life will feel, and that horse-flesh is subject to the ailments affecting all creatures which breathe, orders his servant to take "the beast" to the knacker's and to get what he can for it.

Such is the history of ulcerated joint. All joints are exposed to ulceration; every bone in the fore and hind leg may be thus affected. The small bones of the hock are those most commonly diseased; whenever this is the case, the only termination which can reasonably be hoped for is that the inflamed surfaces may be united. The bones are then bound together by osseous union, and are, of course, firmly locked; they are no longer capable of the slightest movement one upon the other; but this is no vast evil: many animals are now at work having the smaller bones firmly united by osseous deposit. Horses in that condition are far from useless, even for the highest purposes.

The man whose animal gets ulceration of the hock-joint ought to allow the injured quadruped even twelve months of uninterrupted rest. The first thing is to get the sufferer into slings; the earlier this is done the better; it takes off the weight from the affected joint, relieves the pain, and gives the system full opportunity to rectify the lesion. To draw blood to the part and so promote deposit, rub in, once every two days, some of the embrocation recommended in the article on "Rheumatism," which is thus composed: of soap liniment, sixteen ounces; liquor ammonia, tincture of cantharides, and of laudanum, of each two ounces. There need be no fear of applying friction; the utmost pressure made upon an ulcerated joint can call forth no response. When the joint is embrocated, wrap the part loosely in flannel, using an elastic webbing to fasten the portion above and below the hock, and not tying any fastening around the painfully-diseased member; give three feeds of corn, a few old beans, and sweet hay for each day's support, while the treatment lasts.

The improvement will be denoted by the animal bearing upon the affected limb; after three mouths or longer, the slings may be removed; in another three months, the horse, should the pace be sound, may perform gentle work. However, the first three months must be reckoned from the date when the animal commenced to bear continuously on the ulcerated joint; in short, the slings are not to be removed until long after the quadruped has, by its carriage, declared them to be useless. Then, for the three subsequent months, the work must not be violent; time should be allowed for the union to be confirmed, for, among the many diseases the horse is exposed to, there is not one more treacherous or more liable to relapse than occult spavin.

Such is all that is necessary for the treatment of this disorder; rest--perfect rest, with food capable of supporting nature in the reparative process--is everything which is absolutely necessary. A loose box even does injury, so entire must be the rest, which should be as near to stagnation as it is possible to make it. The embrocation is simply recommended to draw blood to the part, and promote the required deposition. One caution only is necessary--give no purgative; keep the bowels regular by means of cut grass and bran mashes.

If the above measures fail, as in the majority of cases they certainly will, nevertheless good will have been done by abating the violence of the ulcerative process. Before the last resort of all is adopted, another chance remains, which, as an experiment, is justifiable. Puncture the joint--a very small incision will be required; have the limb forcibly retracted or pulled backward; then inject, with a syringe having a fine point, about one ounce of dilute spirits of wine, in which is dissolved half a drachm of iodine. Immediately afterward place the animal in slings, and apply cold water to the hock by means of the India-rubber bandage described in the preceding article. Keep the horse liberally so soon as the pulse becomes quiet, and do not allow it to leave bondage till the tread is firm; as exercise is endured, work may be very gradually resumed.

Remember, the above is proposed only as a last experiment; the design is to change the ulcerative action to one of a secretive character, and thereby promote union of the diseased bones. A trial of this kind has never been instituted; but, certainly, judging from the result of a similar operation upon the human subject, there are the best grounds for anticipating good effects. That it may be known where to make the puncture, a drawing made from the bones of a diseased hock is inserted on page 311; the darker line marks the place where the ulcerated surfaces existed, and into which the fluid should be injected. This, however, is so nice an operation that, although unattended with any immediate danger, none but a skilled anatomist should undertake it. In proper and judicious hands it is perhaps as safe, and more likely to be accompanied with benefit than the great majority of veterinary remedies.

RHEUMATISM.

This form of disease in the horse is commonly known as following more serious affections. After influenza it is very frequent; it is not rare as coming in the train of thoracic disorders; most important organs, being acutely affected, will leave it behind them. On rare occasions it may appear without any forerunner.

Its advent is announced by swelling about the joints, accompanied by the most painful lameness; the animal may not dare to put its foot to the ground. Often the disease flies about, now seizing upon one or two joints, next attacking the hitherto free members, and generally clinging to similar parts, as the hocks, knees, etc. Then it will return to its former abode--thus shifting about, to the torture of the animal and the confusion of him who may undertake its relief.

One almost constant symptom is an increase of synovia. For synovial membrane, whether in the sheaths of tendons or on the heads of bones, rheumatism always displays a marked partiality. This structure is, as has been already noticed, without sensation during health; in disease, however, its involvement communicates extreme agony. The afflicted horse stands with difficulty; its pulse and its breathing declare its sufferings--both are quick and jerking; the limbs may be greatly swollen; and the parts secreting joint-oil bulged out, soft, and puffy, from the increase of their contents.

No disease is accompanied with such long and extreme pain as rheumatism; the remedies, therefore, should be quick and effective. Procure the steaming apparatus recommended for bronchitis; fill the warm, loose box, into which the horse should be brought, with vapor; while that is being accomplished, get ready the slings; put the belly-piece under the animal, and fix them so as not to take the entire bearing from the ground, but so as to relieve the diseased joints of some portion of their burden, and allow the horse to rest its body when it is disposed to repose.

Keep up the steam for one hour; at the end of that period, have several men ready with dry cloths--wisps would be too exciting; let the men wipe the horse quite dry, with as little noise and as much speed as possible. This over, order some of the assistants to put on the hood and clothing, also wrapping the sound limbs in flannel; the disengaged helpers are to go upon their knees and rub into and about the seat of disorder a liniment thus composed:--

Compound soap liniment Sixteen ounces. Liquor of ammonia Two ounces. Tincture of cantharides Two ounces. Tincture of opium Two ounces.

When the liniment has been applied, incase the affected limbs in warm flannel.

Many persons are at a loss to comprehend this last direction; it is easily accomplished. Have ready some rings of elastic webbing to fasten over the members; also procure four pieces of flannel, each rather more than the length of a limb. To the small ends of two pieces of flannel, one yard and a half long, attach a band of broad, elastic webbing, and fix a buckle and strap at the other terminations; at similar points of the other two pieces of flannel, only these last are to be two yards long, likewise fix broad elastic bands, and also append a buckle and strap. Place the long pieces of flannel by the hind limbs; put the shorter flannels by the fore legs; buckle the straps, the fore ones over the withers, and the hind straps over the loins. This will keep the flannel up to its proper height; fasten it with the rings of elastic webbing to the hoofs, while the assistants are wrapping it loosely round the limbs.

The horse being in the slings, no surcingle can be put on, nor is any needed. The animal with acute rheumatism is certain to stand quiet enough. So much being accomplished, give the horse a bolus formed of powdered colchicum, two drachms; iodide of potassium, one drachm; simple mass, a sufficiency.

These measures are to be taken regardless of the condition of the body; if the attack, however, follow another disease, the bodily support must not be too low. It should be all prepared or softened by the action of heat and water; the oats should be of the best description; they should be crushed and boiled; a few old beans, also boiled, may be added, and a malt mash occasionally will do no harm. To open the bowels, and likewise to allay excitement, give green-meat when required; but do not make a practice of allowing this sort of food in quantity, as it blows the animal out, weakens the digestion, and soon loses all laxative effect.

Next morning repeat the steaming, etc., and give a ball composed of a scruple of calomel and two drachms of opium; allow only five pounds of hay during the day. At night, again steam, etc., and give the ball which was recommended on the first occasion.

When the horse begins to bear upon its legs, should the liniment not have blistered the joints, the following may be applied with a soft brush, but without friction:--

Tincture of cantharides One ounce. Camphorated oil Half an ounce. Tincture of opium Half an ounce.

The horse may be of a full habit when affected; in that case, pursue the measures already recommended, but do not give the food before advised; instead, allow bran mashes twice a week, and a bundle of green-meat once a day, and sweet hay must make up the sustenance for twenty-four hours. Should the horse, however, appear to lose flesh and spirit, boiled corn must form a portion of the diet, and the quantity can be regulated only by him who has charge of the case.

One caution must be given before concluding this article. A sick animal is very sensitive as to noises; a door banged to will excite the terror of the poor creature, which, probably, was half asleep, with the head hanging down. A loud word or an energetic action will not unseldom call forth symptoms of such alarm as may threaten, through their utter recklessness, to demolish the structure in which the horse is confined. For these, if from no purer motives, respect the sufferings and wisely try to soothe the animal. As the creature is devoid of reason to shape its fears, approach it noiselessly; speak softly at first; ascertain--although the eye be closed--by the motion of the ears, whether your voice is heard. Then lay the hand upon the neck and gently caress the sick body; after that you may do what you please, so nothing be very sudden or very loud.

Such slight considerations will not be thrown away, even in a medical point of view. A moment of excitement may do the injury which no physic will remove; nay, in critical stages, many a life has been lost from want of thought in the attendants about a diseased horse.

DISTENTION OF SYNOVIAL MEMBRANE--WIND-GALLS.

Man treats the horse after a strange fashion. He buys the animal for a large sum, because it possesses some particular quality; but, hardly has he obtained it, before he behaves as though he desired only to destroy the property he has so dearly purchased. A horse, for private use, is generally bought for its beauty; in a short time afterward it is sold as having become too deformed for its master's service. A year or two commonly suffices to spoil the most perfect animal. Many are ruined in their colthood; many more are made worthless by the trainer. Of all creation, the horse is most abused. So universal is this custom that the marks of ill usage are in the market even regarded as if they were natural consequences. Those affections designated =wind-galls= are generally lightly esteemed by most horsemen when the animal is required for actual service--as hunting, racing, coaching, etc.

Such marks, however, are evidences of hard work having been performed. They are not natural formations; but are blemishes, which man, in his consideration for a dumb servant, is pleased to make light of. They do not generally impede the action--and lameness is the only fact a true horseman cares to notice. He will not stay to inquire what must have been the kind of work which could occasion the =synovial membrane= to bulge out upon a living body. He does not care to ask whether Nature, when deformity first appeared, instituted the fact without intention. He will not condescend to question whether every unnatural appearance is not designed to be a warning. But he views wind-galls rather as a proof that the poor animal exhibiting them is a seasoned horse, and, therefore, is bettered by the distortion of a sensitive structure.

Wind-galls are the result of severe work. The back sinews are incased in a fine sheath which contains synovia, or, as it is commonly termed, "joint oil." The use of the synovia is to facilitate the motions of the two great flexor tendons one upon the other; so, when the pace is too fast or the labor too energetic, the delicate membrane which secretes the synovia becomes irritated. The consequence of irritation is increased secretion. More joint oil is poured forth than the natural sac can contain. The membrane, therefore, bags out at those parts which are weakest. Two such places are situated above the fetlock and one below it. The localities, with the size of the tumors, as they generally are exhibited, the reader will find delineated in the following engravings.

Wind-galls generally appear on the hind leg. They used to be regarded as swollen bursæ; but Mr. Varnell, Assistant Professor at the Royal Veterinary College, by careful dissection, first pointed out their real character. He proved them to be synovial enlargements; and the writer, benefiting by Mr. Varnell's instruction, has verified the fact.

Very slight physiological knowledge was required to detect they were not bursæ. Bursæ are little round sacs, secreting a fluid like synovia, but always placed so as to facilitate motion. Now, wind-galls appear close to a synovial sheath ordained to serve the same purpose. They, moreover, start up in the hollow between the flexor tendons and the suspensory ligament, in which arteries, veins, nerves, and absorbents reside. The merit in discovering they had been misnamed was, perhaps, small; but the credit of demonstrating what they actually were--which demanded a more elevated talent--remains with Mr. Varnell.

Wind-galls are fond of the hind leg; or rather, the hinder limbs do the heaviest portion of the horse's work; therefore these deformities are commonly found on those members. There may be one or three on both sides of each leg: they generally are quiescent; but occasionally they prove wind-galls to be something more than the simple blemishes which man is pleased to esteem them. After a hard run it is not unusual to hear a huntsman complain that the wind-galls have disappeared and the back sinews of his hunter have become puffy. When that occurs, the entire sheath suffers excessive irritation, and has enlarged. The horse is then very lame, but a day or two of rest reduces the sudden enlargement, and the animal recovers its soundness.

Sometimes, however, repeated irritation starts up a new action; the secretion becomes turbid, displays enormous floating threads of cartilage and occasional sanguineous infiltration; the sac enlarges; the walls begin to thicken; the tumor feels less pulpy and more firm; it grows harder. First becomes cartilage, and ultimately may be converted into bone. Mr. Gowing, of Camden Town, has a fine specimen of this species of disease.

During these changes the animal is very lame; yet wind-galls are so lightly esteemed by horsemen as scarcely to lessen the price of a steed; they are, in general, accounted hardly worth mentioning, although men have been known to be strangely anxious to have them removed. This, however, is not easy to bring about; all the common methods are worse than useless; the only treatment which promises any benefit is the application of pressure. Fold a piece of soft rag several times; saturate the rag with water; lay upon the wetted rag one drachm each of opium and of camphor; put these upon the enlargement. Upon the moistened rag place a piece of cork big enough to cover the wind-gall, and of such a thickness as may be necessary; above the cork lace on a vulcanized India-rubber bandage. Constant and equal pressure will by these means be kept up; however, mind the groom be strictly ordered to take the bandage off the leg the last thing when the horse leaves the stable, and to put it on again immediately on the animal's return; otherwise, the proprietor may chance to enter the building and find his steed without an application, which, to be beneficial, should be perpetually worn.

Such is the history and the occasional termination of wind-galls. What kind of man is he who, when purchasing a horse, can confidently assert the animal will not exhibit the worst stage of the affection? A horse displaying wind-galls is prepared for the advent of the more serious form of disease; still, horsemen will persist in deeming synovial enlargements a trivial affair, when seen in the body of a creature whose utility resides in its power to move the limbs with agility.

BOG SPAVIN.

=Bog spavin= is a mark which man makes to signalize his authority over breathing flesh; man, in his stupidity, will form notions of what animals should be; he will not learn from nature. Thus the horse, which is made up of timidity and affection, he loves to chronicle as fierce, fiery, noble, and courageous; he talks largely of having mastered such or such a creature; he boasts highly of having laid whip and spur to a "brute" which, had he courted with gentleness, and wooed with sympathy, might not have been subdued so quickly, but assuredly would have been attached to him for life.

The hocks suffer severely through such erroneous opinions. These convictions are widely spread and influence every horseman; they control the breaker, who acts as though he had a wild beast to conquer into a show of submission, not to train a living animal which is naturally willing, only afraid to submit. Instead of courting such a being, the bit, the lash, and the cold steel are brought to bear upon a frame every fiber of which already quivers with alarm; many a colt, consequently, is ruined by the breaker. The creature is pulled up with a tug at the reins; and pain never yet enlightened an understanding; the horse is forced to do what he would cheerfully perform, if man would only take necessary trouble to communicate his wishes to a creature which, not comprehending words, is naturally somewhat slow to interpret heavy chastisement.

The breaker, however, is considered equal to his office, if he be a light weight and a very resolute man. The young colt is sprained and jarred in every possible manner; it is at last returned to its master more than half broken--in the literal sense--for the seeds have been sown which, in time, will assuredly crop into a host of virulent diseases.

This affection is an increase of synovia in the upper or chief joint of the hock; it lies upon the most inward and forward portion of that part. The increase of the contents causes the membrane to bulge out after the manner represented in the wood-cut on page 318.

It is produced by repeated shocks to the limb, and in this respect resembles wind-galls; though situated in a different locality, it is also liable to the same changes. In short, the affections are the same, and are dissimilar only with regard to their relative situation.

Bog spavin is thought slightly of by professed horsemen; however, the reader must ask himself, if it be viewed as no deterioration, can it be also regarded as a recommendation? Is a blemished leg, or a limb with disease, which is liable to assume an aggravated type, properly considered a sound member? The writer thinks not. Bog spavin does not, in its ordinary stage, lame the horse; but can such an unnatural enlargement add to the pleasure of the animal's existence? Were pain in man judged of entirely as it affected the walk of the human being, the disorders of how many people would the doctor esteem of little consequence! Such a standard of agony is ridiculous. It is most difficult to say when no anguish is felt by the life which is denied the faculty of announcing its sensations through the medium of speech.

THOROUGH-PIN.

This disease is so called, because in some cases it pierces right through the thinnest part of the hind leg, or appears on either side immediately before the point of the hock. It, however, is often single. It is rarely present without bog spavin; and in every instance which the author has examined, it communicated with the large synovial articulation of the joint.

It is provoked by the same causes as generate bog spavin; it is similar to that disorder in not being generally accompanied by lameness, and in being liable to the same fearful changes. Pressure and rest are the best remedies; pressure, applied after the manner recommended for wind-galls, may in some cases answer. The bog spavin and the =thorough-pin=, however, should not in every case be treated at the same time; as a general rule, it is prudent only to attack one affection by means of an India-rubber bandage. This should be so cut as to release the bog spavin from all pressure; and where the slightest uneasiness is evinced, all bandages should be instantly removed, while the corks and cloths--employed as for wind-galls--are taken off the thorough-pin.

It is never well to attempt to cure the bog spavin first; the treatment ought always to commence with the thorough-pin; therefore, for a horse which will not endure the bandage, a truss must be procured from the instrument-maker. The truss is of the ordinary description, only adapted to bear upon the parts. This will probably act with efficacy equal to the bandage. When the truss has performed its office, then a perfect India-rubber bandage may be safely applied. Only, mind and also employ with the last the corks and cloths; else, when endeavoring to remove one disorder, you may reproduce another. Watch the animal while wearing the bandage; on the slightest change, either in habit or appearance, remove the India-rubber. Should the pressure affect the skin, (as it will in certain cases,) rags, thoroughly wetted, should be wrapped round the hock before lacing the bandage up. If the rags appear to be of no avail, it is better to forbear for a time, and to renew the attempt hereafter.

The horse which exhibits bog spavin and thorough-pin also generally shows wind-galls on the hind legs. Let the reader consider the hard usage the limb must have undergone before it could have become thus deranged. Here is a specimen, demonstrating the connection which exists between thorough-pin and bog spavin. It was made in consequence of Mr. Varnell having informed the author that thorough-pin was a bulging out of the synovial sheath, proper to the flexor tendon; and was not, as is generally taught and credited, an enlarged bursa. The author found them to be in accordance with the description he had received: the enlargement called thorough-pin, and the synovial membrane of the hock, had united, and free communication existed between them, in the joint which the writer examined.

Nature formed the synovial cavity of the joint as a distinct and separate part. It is usual for teachers to promulgate a maxim that Nature is all-wise. Man, however, it appears, can violently disarrange her provisions; yet, by his fellow-men, he is accounted to have done no wrong who destroys the harmony of Nature. Thorough-pin is not, in popular estimation, essentially unsoundness. A horse thus disfigured is believed, nay, professionally pronounced to be, perfect, although two distinct parts are battered into one. If two are beneficial, why was one only created? The horse may not be lame; but, granting Nature to be all-wise, must not the uses for which the limb was designed be injured? The question is not, whether an animal trots sound; but it is, whether it really is sound. What sane man would assert such to be the case, where the anatomical structures have been disorganized?

CAPPED KNEE.

=Capped knee=, in the fore limb, answers to bog spavin in the hind leg; the diseases are alike in most respects. Both affect the principal articulation of a complicated joint; both may be provoked by the like causes; but the fore leg, being less exposed to shocks than the hinder member, must have been much abused before it could become thus deformed.

Blows, also, are common originators of capped knee. This disorder is likewise peculiar for a course it takes. The fluid within the swollen joint is, upon excitement, secreted in such quantity as to tighten the enlargement. Ultimately it lames the horse, and at length bulges out, or points, after the manner of an abscess. If let alone, it would burst. Much of the surrounding parts would have to be absorbed or would be effectually destroyed before such a termination could ensue. The life would be endangered, or a lasting blemish would be left behind. To prevent this, the surgeon draws the skin to one side, and, holding the point of his lancet upward, opens the capped knee upon its lower surface. A quantity of synovia, more or less in a turbid state, escapes, and an open joint remains. For the treatment of this contingency, the reader must turn to "Open Joint." (_Injuries._)

Capped knee is, by certain persons, viewed as a trivial accident. Generally, however, it is regarded in a more serious light, because it is _more conspicuous_ than bog spavin. We also should object to it, because, while liable to the same changes as wind-galls, etc., it is also likely to expose the horse to an open joint. It is, like wind-galls and bog spavin, to be reduced by pressure, though sometimes pressure will call up aggravated symptoms. Rest is the best treatment; during the rest pressure may be safely applied. Pressure does not answer, however, while the limb is exposed to the irritation of work. The horse must be thrown up during treatment, and gently used after the animal has been patched up or "cured."

CAPPED HOCK.

When an injury is formed near an important part, Nature is so conservative of her creature's welfare that she always has some means ready to preserve the utility of the structure. Thus when, from external violence, the hock becomes capped, or a swelling like to that represented in the following engraving ensues, to prevent the joint being thrown out of use Nature allows the skin to enlarge. The cap of a hock, originally, was a bursa. A bursa is a little bladder or round sac, formed of the finest possible membrane, and filled with a fluid similar to joint oil. Its use is to facilitate motion; hence it eases the tightened skin over the points of the bony hock. But when it becomes deranged and swollen, the skin, which was dense, hard, and solid, stretches so as to cover the increase of bulk.

The tumor, however, having been produced, may in time subside, should the injury which provoked it not be repeated. Too often, however, the cause springs from motives over which the animal has no control; and the violence being renewed again and again, the swelling enlarges, and that which was soft and pulpy at first becomes hard to the feel, while all sensation of fluid disappears. The provocative being repeated, the part first grows firm, then solid, while its bulk also enlarges to a fearful magnitude. There appears to be no limit to the size; but the largest the author has encountered was nineteen inches in its greatest circumference, and seriously interfered with progression. Above, on the right hand, is a portrait of the tumor.

These unsightly growths have two causes--the ignorance of the groom and the timidity of the animal. To speak of the last first: Dogs will dream; often, as they lie before the fire, they work their legs and utter suppressed noises, being at the time soundly asleep. Dogs also have imagination. Almost everybody must have remarked the dog slink away from some object which is to be indistinctly seen in the dusk of evening. Nobody, however, seems to have credited the horse with either of these faculties. Because it is of service to man, it is appropriated, and the attributes belonging to the creature are overlooked; the groom locks the stable door, and, having bedded the horses down, leaves them in the dark, "comfortable" for the night. One dreams--awakens in terror, similar to that which causes children to start out of their sleep with terrible crying. The hind legs are the means of defense with the horse; it has no other, for it seldom, and not habitually, employs its teeth. The animal, in alarm, begins kicking, for terror becomes powerful as the reason diminishes. Animals have passions; these man can, in himself, subdue with reason; but the poor horse has no reason to restrain its emotions. Fear, once awakened, unopposed, possesses it; it begins to kick before it knows why. Bodies of men are exposed to panics. Can we wonder, therefore, at a timid and unreasoning animal being subject to the same influences? The kicking commenced, terror spreads; and a whole stable full of horses, each chained to its stall, each alone, forbidden the consolation of society, and prevented from scampering from the unknown horror, takes up the action; thus thirty or forty horses may be heard, in the depth and darkness of a night, kicking at the same time. The hind legs, when forcibly projected, are apt to hit the point of the hock; the bursa there developed is injured by the blow, and a capped limb is the consequence.

Another cause is kicking while in harness. This habit is always attributed to vice: to speak of vice as associated with the ideas of a simple animal is purely ridiculous. Fear is a much more probable cause, if man would only expand his understanding to comprehend the motives likely to actuate an unreasoning creature; vice is far too heroic an impulse, far too human a failing, for the horse to embody. Fear is essentially an animal passion; that some mighty influence agitates the quadruped, when it begins to kick in harness, is proved by the serious accidents the horse encounters through this habit. No life can be careless of its own existence; all creatures are conservatives where their own being is concerned. Would mankind only admit this fact, and seek to gain the confidence of, as they now labor to establish authority over, the horse, gentle words, spoken when the impulse was awakened, might reassure the animal, and would thus frequently save the owner from impending danger.

A third cause is lazy drivers riding on cart-horses, when unhooked, as leaders of the wagon; the poles, called spreaders, which keep the chains asunder, frequently hang so low that, at every movement of the leg, they strike the point of the hock. The uneven paving of some stables is likewise said to produce the disease; in short, anything which may cause the point of the calcis to suffer violence will produce a capped hock.

The cure for capped hock has been differently directed. Some hobble the hind legs of the horse, to prevent its kicking in the night; some fasten a chain and a log to one hind limb, for the same purpose; others suspend a piece of loose cloth at the back of the horse; but the best plan is always to leave a lantern lighted in the stable. The power to see around reassures timidity, while darkness is an awful instigator of terror; horses often fly back in their stalls, but never kick, during daylight.

Then, as to the cure: Such a tumor, when recent, is hot and somewhat painful; at this time, keep it wet with cold water or with a lotion formed of spirits of wine and water in equal parts; when the tenderness has subsided, procure some men who want employment and have strong arms; set these fellows to rub the cap of the hock constantly, and the tumor, in three or four days, or in less time, will have disappeared.

Should the enlargement, however, have become hard, the knife then must be employed; the horse must be cast, and the substance must be carefully dissected out without opening the sac. This being done, remove none of the skin; leave that bagging about the hock; simply treat it with a lotion composed of chloride of zinc one grain, to water one ounce, and the integument will contract. Ultimately there will remain no more than will be required to cover the part, whereas, if any be taken away, the wound, which in these cases never heals quickly, will be very long before it closes, and, in proportion to the skin which has been removed, there will remain a lasting blemish.

There is another caution we have to give the reader before leaving this subject; let no advice persuade, no temptation induce him to puncture, seton, or merely to open capped hock. The membrane lining the swelling is, when diseased, so extremely sensitive that the writer has known the lives of animals endangered by these so-called remedies. The author, moreover, never knew the enlargement to be much reduced by these means; neither has it been the author's lot to witness much good follow the application of blisters. No; extirpation is the only remedy, and it should be accomplished without puncturing the sac; this is as safe an operation as there is in the entire range of veterinary surgery. There is neither nerve, muscle, membrane, vessel, nor any important structure to avoid; with ordinary care, the removal is most easy. There is but one thing annoying connected with the business, and that is, the length of time which the healing of a necessary wound, made upon a point of motion, almost invariably occupies.

CAPPED ELBOW.

This is very common, especially among cart-horses; it is attributed to the calkin of the fore foot; to the point of the hind hoof; or to a stable floor, thinly bedded, and composed of sharp stones. So, likewise, blows with the butt-end of the whip will induce it; but the harness probably guards the elbow, which therefore can be struck only in exceptional cases.

It consists of a bursa, which, as in the former instance, has been injured, and has consequently enlarged; in appearance and in its subsequent course it greatly resembles capped hock, from which it differs only in a greater liability to ulcerate and become sinuous when allowed to remain until it is of extreme magnitude. It is said to derive that unenviable peculiarity from being situated nearer to the center of circulation. Capped hock is so little disposed to take on such a form of disease that the author cannot remember having seen a case of the kind; with a tumor on the elbow, however, ulceration is unfortunately too common. That probability should forbid the owner to allow the tumor to attain any great size; when large, moreover, it is apt to encircle the elbow-joint, and then its size seems to render the removal apparently impossible. It, however, may be extirpated. All said of capped hock applies to capped elbow.

LUXATION OF THE PATELLA.

That is displacement of the whirl-bone of the stifle, (which answers to the knee-cap of the human being.) Such an accident, fortunately, few horses incur; there are many veterinary surgeons who, during a practice extending over many years, have not encountered a single case; whereas other gentlemen will have hardly started in their profession before =luxation of the patella= is submitted to their notice. It is not peculiar to any district, it is not confined to any special breed; it may affect all kinds of horses in all sorts of places; for it is produced more by the parsimony or the uncharitableness of mankind than by any fault in the structure of the animal.

In several localities throughout the country agriculturists, under the notion of saving money, determine to rear horses on short grass. The creatures are out in the fields during all kinds of weather; the body becomes debilitated under such a starvation system; those parts which are naturally weak become weaker, while those structures which were originally endowed with strength grow comparatively stronger. The beautiful balance of nature is overthrown, and each portion becomes at discord with all the rest; any trivial disease may destroy the life thus at war within its own dominion. Colts frequently exhibit luxation of the patella before they are broken; but it is always provoked by weakness, and commonly only seen where the management is faulty or the food is stinted.

When the whirl-bone is displaced, it is always found as an unnatural lump upon the outer side of the thigh; it cannot, for three sufficient reasons, be drawn to the inner part of the leg. The inner condyle of the humerus, over which the patella plays, is sufficiently large to oppose any unnatural motion in that direction; the inner ligaments are the weakest, and are, therefore, most readily stretched in the outward direction; the circumstances permit the bone to be displaced from the inside of the leg. Then, moreover, the muscles are altogether more powerful upon the outer side. Any force acts more energetically as debility increases, and, to favor it, there is less resistance in the direction opposite to which the force pulls; for these reasons the bone is invariably luxated upon the outer side of the animal's haunch.

The symptoms denoting luxation of the patella are: the leg thrust out behind, and remaining fixed; the horse's entire frame is affected; the head is erect; the muscles quiver; the pastern of the protruded leg is violently flexed; there is an unnatural swelling upon the outer and lower part of the buttock. If the animal be forced to move, it can only imperfectly hop upon three legs; such an accident may occur at any time, and never be repeated. It may, however, become so common as to be mistaken for a species of habit; for luxation of the patella, when by frequency confirmed, will take place upon the slightest possible cause.

In stinted colts the most trivial motion will often give rise to this accident; the creature can hardly move without its leg being thrust out behind it. The cure is, in these cases, anything which may flurry the animal. A noise, made by moving the hand quickly and rather energetically from side to side within a hat, the crack of a whip, or any sudden and loud sound, will occasion the bone to return, with apparent ease and the utmost rapidity, to its natural situation. The colt, however, may the next moment exhibit the misfortune which, in young life, can only be cured by kindly treatment and liberal sustenance.

Probably the author will best describe the nature of the affection in old animals, by narrating a case which a few years ago happened to himself.

At the request of a friend he visited one of those auction marts for the sale of horses which in London are somewhat notorious. The object of his visit being, if possible, to purchase, his attention was directed to certain animals. As usual, a glance enabled him to pass by all the marked "lots," and he had reached the third stable, when his eye rested on a horse which seemed wrongly placed among such companions. It was lively, young, clean legged, short backed, well ribbed up--in fact, one of those rare creatures every inch of which seems made for service. The height was fifteen hands three inches; the color was a dark brown. The author tried in vain to discover if it had any "vice." It appeared perfectly quiet. He examined the feet; he could detect no unsoundness. He went to the office and ascertained the price--twenty-four guineas! It was too cheap! Such an animal would be thrown away if sold for fifty guineas. "Would they give a warranty?" "It was not their custom to give any warranty." "Had the horse megrims?" "No." "Would they grant a trial?" "It was contrary to their rules." Still the author wanted to buy; he would "deposit the cash, and if all proved right take the horse." "They never granted trials; but there stood the owner--the writer could talk to him."

The person alluded to was lounging close to the writer's elbow, and was habited in that half-blackleg, half-blackguard costume which characterizes the low London dealer. The contemplation of this individual did not improve any previous opinion of the matter. However, the man's eye was firmly fixed upon that of his would-be customer, and, rather than encounter a disturbance, the author approached the fellow, to whom he repeated his request. The answers given were too similar to those received from the clerk for the likeness to be purely accidental. The dealer nevertheless saw a trial was imperative to convert the inquirer into a purchaser; and, rightly judging from appearance that there was little of the jocky in the writer's attainments, reluctantly consented to afford the demanded test.

The horse was speedily between the shafts of a very light gig. The man took the reins, placed the whip behind him, and we moved off at the gentlest of possible trots. No objection was taken to the pace; it gave the better opportunity of examining into the soundness. All was right in that particular. The steps were loud and even. After some time, during which the man frequently inquired if "I had had trial enough _now?_" we left the paved streets, but no entreaty could cause the pace to be improved. At length we came to a rise in the ground, and, as it was approached, my companion turned sulky. Hardly had the horse began to ascend the inequality, before it suddenly stood quite still. The gig was brought to with a jerk, which almost threw both of its occupants upon the footboard. The author was the first out of the vehicle; there stood the horse--the leg out, the foot flexed, the head erect--displaying the evident symptom of luxation of the patella.

An inn was fortunately near the spot. To the yard of the hostelry the animal was with difficulty led. Being sheltered in an unoccupied building, a groom was placed at the horse's head. A long rope, thrown over a beam, was fastened to the fetlock of the protruded limb. By this rope the owner stood; and while he pulled the leg upward and forward, the writer was by the quarters, with both hands pushing the luxated bone inward. The patella soon slipped into its situation; and the horse was afterward sold by auction for four guineas more than the author had refused to pay for it.

Mr. Spooner, in his lectures at the Royal Veterinary College, always recommends his hearers, after this bone has been returned, to place an assistant by the horse's side, with strict orders to hold the patella in its situation for some hours. Such advice is most excellent; to which we can only add, perfect rest, and as much strengthening food as the animal can consume. If such measures are pursued, and the horse be not used for six weeks subsequent to the accident, there need be little fear entertained of a second luxation of the patella.

BLOOD SPAVIN.

This disease is, happily, with the past; the writer has not seen an instance. Neither had the late Mr. Percival--the highest veterinary authority--after a life laboriously passed in scientific research. It is described to have existed as varicosity of the vena saphena, where the vessel crosses the hock. The cause is said to have been bog spavin when of magnitude: this, it is asserted, opposed circulation within the vessel; but the author conjectures the swelling must have assumed the callous state, before it could have offered sufficient resistance to the flow of blood to occasion the vessel to enlarge or to become varicose.

There is no cure for such a disease. The knife may remove the deformity but a larger blemish was often left as the consequence of the operation. Should such a case be known to any of the present readers, the author would advise the enlargement should be left alone, and trust placed in the absorbing powers of nature for its removal.