514 Veterinary Medicine. 



relation to the filth and wet of the stable and farm yard, and to 

 the absence of cleanliness in dealing with the feet, and that the 

 extension of good pavement and protection from road mud have 

 invariably lessened its prevalence. The irritant action of the 

 urine renders mares more susceptible in the hind limbs than horses. 



Symptoms. The disease niay appear as a swelling, heat and 

 tenderness of the hollow back of the pastern, involving the fet- 

 lock and lower part of the metatarsus or metacarpus, and this may 

 last for one or two weeks, the engorgement lessening or disappear- 

 ing during exercise and reappearing when at rest in the stall. 

 The local tenderness is great as manifested by the prompt and 

 excessive lifting of the leg when the heel is touched, as well as 

 by the lameness when first moved, which subsides with further 

 exercise. Itching may be shown b}^ kicking the floor, or by a 

 disposition to rub the pastern. The hairs of the affected part are 

 rigidl)' erect, and a slightl}' moist, soapy sensation is felt on the 

 skin. Close examination may detect the presence of small 

 vesicles with as yet limpid contents, but the greater part of the 

 liquid product is traceable to the openings of the hairs and gland 

 ducts. This is followed b}^ small excoriations taking the place 

 of the ruptured vesicles, and the discharge becomes more pro- 

 fuse, opaque, white or grayish white, sticky, and foetid. It 

 covers the entire affected surface, mats together the hair in tufts 

 and forms a thicker grayish border. The hairs are loosened in 

 their follicles and easily pulled out. The erosions become com- 

 plicated by chaps, and the swelling increases around the pastern 

 and above the fetlock. When at rest in the stall the foot may be 

 rested on the toe only, or held suspended and occasionally kicked 

 backward as if to dislodge the cause of irritation, yet if moved 

 the patient may gradually get over the greater part of the lame- 

 ness, and the swelling partialh' subside. 



In severe, protracted cases the discharge becomes essentially 

 purulent, but often with a darker, greenish, reddish or blackish 

 tinge, and portions of the skin may slough, leaving deep intract- 

 able sores. Still more commonly the raw surfaces become the 

 seat of hypertrophied granulations, which grow out to form raw, 

 red fungous like, pediculated neoplasms familiarly known as 

 grapes. Between these the spaces are filled with tufts of hairs and 

 the condensed discharges, in process of active septic change, 



