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STRUCTURE AND DISEASES OF THE HORSE’S FOOT: Bri i! 
seated lesion of the foot, seated in the cartilages, or perhaps even in the 
coffin-bone itself. It may follow the inflammation of injury, orit may 
originate in constitutional conditions. Neglected corns, increasing by 
continued bruising, may cause by pressure the ulceration and mortifica- 
tion of the cartilage, or even of the bone. Fracture of some part of the 
coffin-bone may eventuate in this disease. It rarely gets well without 
assistance. When itis diagnosticated, a well-informed veterinary sur- 
geon should be called. The treatment is mainly by local injections, aid- 
ing nature to discharge the product of ulceration and stimulating to 
healthy granulations. Of course the animal is utterly unfit for use. 
We have spoken of corns. These make their appearance in two forms, 
the true and the false. The locality of the true corn is the angle caused 
by the inflection of the bars, and is between the bars and wall. In this 
space the posterior extremities of the coffin-bone move freely in the 
movements of the foot. By the irritation of frequent, prolonged, and 
severe use, a thickening of the laminew is produced. This hardens and 
ultimately becomes a semi-corneous tumor. It may remain in this con- 
dition, or it may become a smooth, dense horn, more dense than any 
part of the hoof. It is a constant source of pain and consequent lameness. 
The more common false corn is a bruise of the sensitive sole which 
lies directly under the hee! of the coffin-bone. This occurs most fre- 
quently in feet having a flat, level sole, deficient in the arch. It may 
oceur in any variety of foot which is kept badly shod. A shoe with a 
broad web level upon its foot-surface, and seated for its whole width 
upon the wall and sole, will aid in the production of this form of dis-. 
ease. Several varieties of the false corn are described, but they are 
simply different stages of the same disease. The true corn is essentially 
_jineurable. For the false, in its early stages the general principles of 
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treatment to abate local inflammation may arrest the disease. If sup- 
puration can be prevented, the duration of lameness will be much lim- 
-ited. Care should be taken that the shoe should have its bearing only 
on the solar border of the wall, and a very slight portion of the outer 
border of the sole. ‘To this end, a shoe should be used with a narrow 
web, but little over half an inch in width; or the shoe with a wider web 
should be seated so that its bearing-surface would be narrow. Sup- 
posing the case has been neglected and suppuration has occurred, the 
pain and lameness will be great until the matter isevacuated. The sole 
must be carefully pared away until the horn is very thin, when an open- 
ing must be made through it, and the pus evacuated. If great pain is 
inflicted by the attempt, the foot should be soaked in a warm alkaline 
bath, by which the horn will be softened, and the extreme tenderness 
abated. If possible, the foot should be kept in a poultice for a day or 
two, or three, according to the previous severity of the disease. After 
that the shoe may be reapplied, care being taken that the opening through 
the horh be so protected that no dirt or gravel can enter. 
A condition similar to false corn may exhibit itself in any portion of 
the ground surface of the foot as the result of a severe stone-bruise. If 
detected early, the warm foot-bath, with rest, will be sufficient treatment 
for it. : ; 
One of the most common of the diseases of the foot bears the popu- 
lar name of thrush. Of its exact nature and locality perhaps no two 
hippopathologists agree. Mayhew, Youatt, Spooner, and others char- 
acterize the disease by one of its symptoms, and speak of it as “an 
offensive discharge from the cleft of the frog,” to which is sometimes 
added “ with disorganization of the horn.” Both these are symptoms 
of the real disease, which is a low. form of inflammation in the soft 
