HOOF-KOT. 365 



this remedy " invaluable both in staying its progress, and 

 curing the disease :" 1 oz. corrosive sublimate ; 1 oz. blue 

 vitriol ; 1 oz. spirits of salts ; '1 oz. verdigris ; 1 oz. horse 

 turpentine ; 1 oz. oil of vitriol ; oz. spirits of turpentine 

 and 4 ozs. sheep ointment. (The last I presume means 

 mercurial ointment.) "To be well mized when prepared, 

 and kept tied down [in a bottle] when not in use." 



Mr. Smith also says: "When the foot has become much 

 diseased from neglect, it should be placed in an oil -cake 

 poultice for twelve hours ; then washed clean with warm 

 water, and the poultice renewed again in twelve hours more; 

 then to be again washed, and the diseased parts probed to 

 the bottom and dressed ; then to be tied up in common tar 

 for twenty-four hours, and renewed when necessary, again 

 applying the ointment. Opening medicine will materially 

 assist in the cure of obstinate cases." 



Any of these remedies, and fifty more that might be com- 

 pounded, simply by combining caustics, stimulants, etc., in 

 different forms and proportions, will prove sufficient for the 

 extirpation of hoof- rot, with proper preparatory and subse- 

 quent treatment. On these last, beyond all question, principally 

 depends the comparative success of the applications. 



First. No external remedy can succeed in this malady 

 unless it comes in contact with all the diseased parts of the 

 foot. for if such part, however small, is unreached, the 

 unhealthy and ulcerous action is perpetuated in it, and it grad- 

 ually spreads over and again involves the surrounding tissues. 

 Therefore every portion of the diseased flesh must be 

 denuded of horn, filth, dead tissue, pus, and every other 

 substance which can prevent the application from actually 

 touching it, and producing its characteristic effects on it. 



Second. The application must be kept in contact with the 

 diseased surfaces long enough to exert its proper remedial 

 influence. If removed, by any means, befoi-e this is accom- 

 plished, it must necessarily proportionably fail in its effects. 



The preparation of the foot, then, requires no mean skill. 

 The tools must be sharp, the movements of the operator 

 careful and deliberate. As he shaves down near the quick, he 

 must cut thinner and thinner, and with more and more care, 

 or else he will either fail to remove the horn exactly far enough, 

 or he will cut into the fleshy sole and cause a rapid flow 

 of blood. I have already remarked that the blood can be 

 staunched by caustics but they coagulate it on the surface 

 in a mass which requires removal before the application of 



