AS TO SO[y\VDN£SS. 



It is often concealed by being neatly plastered up and 

 the feet greased ; but such means do not hide it from 

 a close view. When you lift the fore foot forivai'd^ 

 and rest it on and above the opposite knee, you must 

 invariably lift the fringe of hair overhanging the coronet, 

 and you will find the beginning of the crack. No sand- 

 crack can be overlooked, if looked for, however neatly 

 " doctored." However slight — although there be no 

 present lameness — the horse having one is unsound ; 

 because it may get larger and deeper, and cause '"dead" 

 lameness ; and if not, it at least shows a hoof incapable 

 of performing its functions and retaining its integrity. 



Seedy-toe has already been considered. 



Thrush is a disease in which a stinking morbid product 

 wets the cleft of the horny frog, the result of degenerative 

 changes in the fibro-fatty frog. It is sometimes due to 

 local causes ; but far more frequently is it the local 

 expression of grave constitutional defects. I daresay 

 you will have heard or read oi fistula in ano in human 

 beings. The discharge in this case is by the side of the 

 anus, from a large space (ischio-rectal fossa) filled with 

 fat. Fistula in ano may have a local cause, such as an 

 abscess ; but is very frequently indeed connected with 

 constitutional derangement, and frequently accompanies 

 pulmonary phthisis. Mr. Bryant, in his " Practice of 

 Surgery," says of it : "Of the causes of this disease 

 little positive information can be given. The abscess, 

 in the majority of cases, begins ivithout any evident cause ^ 

 and careful questioning generally fails in obtaining defi- 



