, from the knee, near which they are frequently found,
downward to about the lower third of the principal cannon bone. They are
of various dimensions, and are readily perceptible both to the eye and
to the touch. They vary considerably in size, ranging from that of a
large nut downward to very small proportions. In searching for them they
may be readily detected by the hand if they have attained sufficient
development in their usual situation, but must be distinguished from a
small, bony enlargement that may be felt at the lower third of the
cannon bone, which is neither a splint nor a pathological formation of
any kind, but merely the buttonlike enlargement at the lower extremity
of the small metacarpal or splint bone.

We have said that splints are to be found on the inside of the leg. This
is true as a general statement, but it is not invariably so, for they
occasionally appear on the outside. It is also true that they appear
most commonly on the fore legs, but this is not exclusively the case,
because they may at times be found on both the inside and outside of the
hind leg. Usually a splint forms only a true exostosis, or a single bony
growth, with a somewhat diffuse base, but neither is this invariably the
case. In some instances they assume more important dimensions, and pass
from the inside to the outside of the bone, on its posterior face,
between that and the suspensory ligament. This form is termed the pegged
splint, and constitutes a serious and permanent deformity, in
consequence of its interference with the play of the fibrous cord which
passes behind it, becoming thus a source of continual irritation and
consequently of permanent lameness.

_Symptoms._--A splint may thus frequently become a cause of lameness
though not necessarily in every instance, but it is a lameness
possessing features peculiar to itself. It is not always continuous, but
at times assumes an intermittent character, and is more marked when the
animal is warm than when cool. If the lameness is near the knee joint,
it is very liable to become aggravated when the animal is put to work,
and the gait acquires then a peculiar character, arising from the manner
in which the limb is carried outward from the knees downward, which is
done by a kind of abduction of the lower part of the leg. Other
symptoms, however, than the lameness and the presence of the splint,
which is its cause, may be looked for in the same connection as those
which have b