.

BONE SPAVIN. HOCKS, WITH SKIN REMOVED.]

[Illustration: PLATE XXIX.

BONE SPAVIN.]

If an acute periostitis of the cannon bone has been readily discovered,
the treatment we have already suggested for that ailment is at once
indicated, and the astringent lotions may be relied upon to bring about
beneficial results. Sometimes, however, preference may be given to a
lotion possessing a somewhat different quality, the alterative
consisting of tincture of iodin applied to the inflamed spot several
times daily. If the lameness persists under this mild course of
treatment, it must, of course, be attacked by other methods, and we must
resort to the cantharides ointment or Spanish-fly blister, as we have
before recommended. Besides this, and producing an analogous effect, the
compounds of biniodid of mercury are favored by some. It is prepared in
the form of an ointment, consisting of 1 dram of the biniodid to 1 ounce
of either lard or vaseline. It forms an excellent blistering and
alterative application, and is of special advantage in newly formed or
recently discovered exostosis.

It remains a pertinent query, however, and one which seems to be easily
answered, whether a tumor so diminutive in size that it can be detected
only by diligent search, and which is neither a disfigurement nor an
obstruction to the motion of the limb, need receive any recognition
whatever. Other modes of treatment for splints are recommended and
practiced which belong strictly to the domain of operative veterinary
surgery; among these are to be reckoned actual cauterization, or the
application of the fire iron and the operation of periosteotomy. These
are frequently indicated in the treatment of splints which have resisted
milder means.

The mode of the development of their growth; their intimacy, greater or
less, with both the large and the small cannon bones; the possibility of
their extending to the back of these bones under the suspensory
ligament; the dangerous complications which may follow the rough
handling of the parts, with also a possibility, and, indeed, a
probability, of their return after removal--these are the considerations
which have influenced our judgment in discarding from our practice and
our approval the method of removal by the saw or the chisel, as
recommended by certain European veterinarians.

RINGBONES.

Ringbone is the designation of the exostosis which is found on the
coronet and in the digital and phalange