380 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 



swelling. In these cases the hair may fall out and the epidermis peel 

 off, but the inflammation soon subsides, the swelling disappears, and 

 only an increased sensitiveness to cold remains. 



In cases more sevei'e irregular patches of skin are destroyed and 

 after a few days slough away, leaving slow-healing ulcers behind. In 

 the cases produced by low temperatures and deep snow the coronary 

 band is the i^art most often affected. 



In many instances there is no destruction of the skin but simply a 

 temporary suspension of the horn-producing function of the coronary 

 band. The fore feet are more often affected than the hind ones, and 

 the heels and quarters are less often involved than the front part of 

 the foot. The coronary band becomes hot, sw^ollen, and painful, and 

 after two or three days the horn separates from the band and slight 

 suppuration follows. For a few days the animal is lame, but as the 

 suppuration disappears the lameness subsides. New horn, often of an 

 inferior quality, is produced by the coronary band, and in time the 

 cleft is grown off and comj^lete recovery is effected. The frog is 

 occasionally frostbitten and may slough off, exposing the soft tissues 

 beneath and causing severe lameness for a time. 



Treatment. — Simple frostbites are best treated by cold fomentations 

 followed by applications of a 5 per cent solution of carbolized oil. 

 When portions of the skin are destroyed, their early separation should 

 be hastened by warm fomentations and poultices. Ulcers are to be 

 treated by the application of stimulating dressings, such as carbolized 

 oil, a 1 per cent solution of nitrate of silver or of chloride of zinc, 

 with pads of oakum and flannel bandages. In many of these cases 

 recovery is exceedingly slow. The new tissue by which the destroyed 

 skin is replaced alw^ays shrinks in healing, and, as a consequence, 

 unsightly scars are unavoidable. Where the coronary band is in- 

 volved it is generally advisable to blister the coronet over the seat of 

 injury as soon as the suppuration ceases, for the purpose of stimulat- 

 ing the grow^th of new horn. Where a crevasse is formed between the 

 old and new^ horn no serious trouble is likely to be met with until the 

 cleft is nearly grown out, when the soft tissues may be exposed by a 

 breaking off of the partly detached horn. But even where this acci- 

 dent ha])pens final recovery is secured by poulticing the foot until a 

 sufficient groAvth of horn protects the parts from injury. 



QUITTOR. 



Quittor is a term applied to various affections of the foot wherein 

 the tissues which are involved undergo a process of degeneration that 

 results in the formation of a slough followed by the elimination of the 

 diseased structures by means of a more or less extensive suppuration. 



For convenience of consideration quittors may be divided into four 



