DISEASES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 181 



•structure iying in the sole of the foot. VV^e therefore shoe the nail, 

 which, instead of being simply* in front, as in the finger, grows 

 around behind and comes together, but not united ; you can soak 

 the hoof and thus spread it open. Accordingly, the part which we 

 shoe corresponds to the end of our nail, and the hoof, like the nail, is 

 much thicker at the bottom than up close to the hair. 



We get fetlock joint diseases not infrequently. You often see a 

 crooked fetlock joint in a horse. That often arises from the care- 

 lessness of the blacksmith in paring off one side of the hoof more 

 than the other, so that the foot is not level. If the hoof is tipped 

 to a considerable degree the wear comes nearly all on one side of 

 this bone, and I have a specimen in my cabinet where this is worn 

 through the outer portion of the bone so that I can see the spongy 

 portion within. 



We now come down to the parts below, which correspond to the 

 'finger joints. The first joint below the fetlock corresponds to the 

 middle joint in your finger, the one which so often receives injuries 

 and which has caused severe lameness and taken dollars from 3'our 

 pockets by having a disease develop there, what is known through- 

 out the English speaking world as ring-bone. This is a ring of boue 

 surrounding that joint and in such a way as to make it grow together. 

 When the two bones have become united solid, there is said to be 

 an anchylosis of the joint with an exostosis, and no longer any mo- 

 tion of the parts. In a section of an anchylosed joint you cannot 

 see the line of demarkation that seemed to separate one bone from 

 the other. The cartilage or gristle that tipped the ends of these 

 bones has been entirelv ossified. This specimen which I show you 

 is a unilateral or unsvmmetrical riu^-bone, which is a cured rinpj-bone. 

 A ring-bone is therefore cured when the joint has become anchy- 

 losed, grown together so there is no longer any motion. When that 

 has taken place the horse can no longer limp, for the point is now 

 solid. Those who claim to cure ring-bone by cleaning out the joint 

 and taking away all the troublesome matter, as a jeweler would clean 

 a clock, are not successful simply because they have not the power 

 to stop the process which nature is carrying on there. But we may 

 hasten this ver3' process of healing. Instead, therefore, of keeping 

 the horse for a year or more, the work may be accomplished in six 

 or eight weeks, and thus get several months use of your horse 



When you have a disease which is going to involve a joint in a 

 ■bony anchylosis, this ossific inflammation must not be stopped by 

 <iold applications, but hastened with all speed and discretion, and a 



