380 HEALTH AND DISEASE 



offensive when the gristle or the ligamentous or bony tissues are involved. 

 Under all circumstances the disease is a tedious and slow one when these 

 lowly organized tissues become affected, and the prospects of immediate 

 success cannot be said to be very encouraging. 



The treatment consists in giving free liberty for the escape of all 

 matter (pus). This is usually effected by opening the • sinuses with a 

 knife (bistoury) specially constructed for the jjurpose. AVhen the sinuses 

 run in a downward direction the horn covering the channels must be rasped 

 away as thin as possible, and then the pipe laid open ; but this is far easier 

 to put in black and white than it is actually to put it into practice; nor is 

 it unattended with danger, for one may possibly injure the underlying 

 structures and even open the joint, especially if the sinus is situated 

 towards the front of the foot, and the horse is at all restive, as it fre- 

 quently is. In these circumstances it is far safer to cast the animal than 

 run any risk of injuring the joint, or of the animal injuring the oj^erator. 

 Another method, and not one to be despised, is to cauterize with a hot 

 iron. Here again we must be careful of the joint. We remember once 

 operating on a horse's hind-foot by this method in the standing position, 

 and although all ordinary precautions were taken, such as placing a twitch 

 on the nose and holding the fore-limb of the same side up, we had no 

 sooner touched the wound with the heated iron than he kicked violently 

 out and unfortunately struck the iron, which penetrated the foot-joint, 

 with the result that he died within two or three days. We relate this 

 unfortunate accident to show how dangerous an ordinary simple operation 

 may be, especially with a restive animal. 



Another and safer method is to plug the sinus with caustic, such as 

 corrosive sublimate or arsenic, and after the " core slough " has come out 

 (which takes from four to six days), the wound should be injected with 

 an antiseptic lotion. Or caustic and antiseptic liquids may be injected 

 repeatedly into the wounds. These are often followed by stimulating- 

 injections, such as the tincture of iodine. A blister rubbed on the 

 coronet sometimes starts healing action in the wound. The cartilage fre- 

 quently becomes diseased, rendering the malady a formidable one to treat. 

 In fact, cauterize by what method we may, or inject whatever lotion 

 we may, nothing seems to be of any use. In such a case recourse is had 

 on the Continent to extirpation or cutting away of the cartilage, which is, 

 it is needless to say, a somewhat formidable operation, and altogether 

 beyond the resources of the amateur; even in the hands of the most skilful 

 veterinary surgeon it frequently fails to bring about the desired result. 



We may say that all wounds inflicted on the feet of horses are attended 

 with danger and are liable to lead to abiding disease, because it is so very 



