as we proceed further, will receive our attention when
we reach the subject of stringhalt.

An excellent test for spavin lameness, which may be readily applied,
consists in lifting the affected leg from the ground for one or two
minutes and holding the foot high so as to flex all the joints. An
assistant, with the halter strap in his hand, quickly starts the animal
off in a trot, when, if the hock joint is affected, the lameness will be
so greatly intensified as to lead readily to a diagnosis.

_Prognosis._--Having thus fully considered the history of bone spavin,
we are prepared to give due weight to the reasons that exist for the
adverse prognosis which we must usually feel compelled to pronounce when
encountering it in practice, as well as to realize the importance of
early discovery. It is but seldom, however, that the necessary advantage
of this early knowledge can be obtained, and when the true nature of
the trouble has become apparent it is usually too late to resort to the
remedial measures which, if duly forewarned, a skillful practitioner
might have employed. We are fully persuaded that but for the loss of the
time wasted in the treatment of purely imaginary ailments very many
cases of bone spavin might be arrested in their incipiency and their
victims preserved for years of comfort for themselves and valuable labor
to their owners.

_Treatment._--To consider a hypothetical case: An early discovery of
lameness has been made; that is, the existence of an acute
inflammation--of periostitis--has been detected. The increased
temperature of the parts has been observed, with the stiffened gait and
the characteristic pose of the limb, and the question is proposed for
solution, What is to be done? Even with only these comparatively
doubtful symptoms--doubtful with the nonexpert--we should direct our
treatment to the hock in preference to any other joint, since of all the
joints of the hind leg it is this which is most liable to be attacked, a
natural result from its peculiarities of structure and function. And in
answer to the query, What is the first treatment indicated? We should
answer _rest_--emphatically, and as an essential condition, _rest_.
Whether only threatened, suspected, or positively diseased, the animal
must be wholly released from labor, and it must be no partial or
temporary quiet of a few days. In all stages and conditions of the
disease, whether the spavin is nothing more than a simple exostosis,