STRUCTURE AND DISEASES OF THE HORSE’S FOOT. 369 
in the hoof,and especially in the coronary band around its summit. 
There may also be tenderness in this tissue on pressure. If both fore- 
feet are aifected, the animal endeavors as far as possible, by settling back 
over the hind feet, to take off the pressure from them. This attempt 
may also be shown by the continuous change from one foot to the other. 
In severe forms of the acute disease the entire system will sympathize 
with the local disease. The arteries supplying the part or parts will be 
found throbbing; the general arterial circulation will be quickened; the 
pulse will become considerably accelerated, and the constitutional con- 
dition will be one of symptomatic fever. 
The disease if unchecked may go on to the destruction of the soft tissues 
of the foot. Cases are on record in which the entire hoof has been shed 
by the separation of the soft from the horny foot. This is a rare termi- 
nation, but the formation of an abscess and partial separation is not so 
uncommon. Before this result occurs, however, the disease has usually 
passed into the chronic form. Prompt resort to appropriate treat- 
ment may result in restoration to health. 
By no means advocating indiscriminate blood-letting, we would in 
this case recommend the free local abstraction of blood, either from the 
toe of the afflicted foot, or from the plantar vein. If the case is a very 
severe one, a branch of the plantar artery of one side may be divided. 
The foot should be placed in a large bucket of warm water, and allowed 
to bleed in it. Care should be taken to keep up the temperature by 
frequent additions of hot water. When the foot is removed, it may be 
placed in a large poultice, having previously been drenched about the 
coronary border with a liniment composed of two ounces each of the 
tincture of aconite root, belladonna, aud opium, with six ounces of soap 
liniment. 
Hor the constitutional disturbance, the tincture of aconite root, fifteen 
to twenty drops in water, may be administered every hour or half hour 
until a decided impression is made upon the frequency and hardness of 
the pulse.* Later, saline medicines, such as the nitrate of potash, wili 
aid in preventing secondary affections. 
Laminitis may have a variety of terminations. First, it may terminate 
in a complete disappearance of all the symptoms, that is, by resolution, 
and there be a complete recovery. Second, it may pass into a chronic 
condition in which all the symptoms are of a mitigated character. When 
quiet, the pain is slight, and the heat is little, if any, in excess of the 
natural state. If the animal is allowed rest upon a soft floor, or is turned 
to run in a paddock, the lameness may be scarcely obvious; but attempt 
to drive him, and, either while on the road or afterward, he becomes very 
lameagain. This condition may continue almost indefinitely. Third, the 
inflammation may terminate in suppuration, which may be confined to a 
small region of the foot, and eventuate in a partial recovery, or it may be 
general and so extensive as to destroy the connection of the hoof with the 
soft tissues. Under the latter circumstances the hoof may be lost. When 
the destructive suppuration falls short of producing complete separation, 
it may be sufficient to permit of a change of relation of the coffin-bone 
to the hoof. A portion of the anterior attachments may be destroyed so 
that the bone may fall away from the horn. In a flat and weak foot this 
may cause a bulging of the sole, producing what is called the pumice 
foot. If the hoof is preserved, the space produced by the falling of the 
*Half a drachm of belladonna with fifteen grains of digitalis may be given every 
half hour, or in emergency the following draught may be given overy hour until the 
proper impression is made on the system: Tinct. aconite root and tinct. beHadomma 
fifteen drops cach, and sulph. ether and laudanum half an ounce each. 
24 A 
