lameness: its causes and treatment. 299 



not in dan^rer of incurring injuries which for their repair may de- 

 niiind the Ix'st skill of the veterinary practitioner. This is true not 

 alone of casualties Nvhieh helonj; to the class (»f external aiul trau- 

 matic cases, but includes as well those of a Uind perhaps more 

 numerous, which may result in lesions of internal i)aits, frequently 

 the most serious and ohscure of all in thi'ir nature ami ctfects. 



The horse is too important a factor in the practical details of 

 human life and fills too lar»re a |)lace in the business and pleasure of 

 tlie world to justify any inditl'erenre to his needs and physical com- 

 fort or ne«j:lect in respect to the preservation of liis ])c<'uliar ])owers 

 for usefulness. In enterinir somewhat lar<;ely, therefore, ujx)!! a 

 review of the subject, anil treating in detail of the causes, the sym[)- 

 toms, the prt»gress, the treatment, the results, and the consequences 

 of lameness in the horse, we are performing a duty which needs no 

 word of apology or justification. The subject explains and justifies 

 itstdf, and is its own vindication and illustration, if any are needed. 



The function of locomotion is performed by the action of two prin- 

 cipal systems of organs, known in anatomical and physiological 

 terminology' as passive and active, the muscles i^erforming the active 

 and the bones the passive portion of the movement. The necessary 

 connection In'tween the coo})erating parts of the organism is effected 

 by means of a vital contact by which the muscle is attached to the 

 bone at certain determinate points on the surface of the latter. 

 These points of attachment appear sonietimcs as an eminence, some- 

 times as a depression, sometimes a border or an angle, or again as a 

 mere roughness, but each i)erfectly fulfilling its purpose, while the 

 necessary motion is provided for by the formation of the ends of the 

 long bones into the requisite articulations, joints, or hinges. Every 

 motion is the product of the contraction of one or more of the 

 muscles, which, as it acts upon the bony lexers, gives rise to a move- 

 ment of extension or flexion, abduction or adduction, rotation or cir- 

 cumduction. Tlie movement of abduction is that which passes from 

 an«l that of adductiim that which passes toward the median line, or 

 the center of the body. The movements of flexion and extension are 

 too well imderstood to need defining. Tt is the combination and 

 raj^id alterations of these movements which produce the ditferent 

 postures and various gaits of the animal, and it is their interruption 

 and derangement, from whatever causes, which constitute the patho- 

 logical condition known as lameness. 



A concise examination of the general anatomy of these organs, 

 however, must preceile the consideration of the pathological (jues- 

 tions i:)€rtaining to the subject. A statement, such as we have just 

 given, containing only the briefest hint of matters which, though not 

 necessarily in their ultimate s<Mentific minutia% must be clearly com- 

 prehended in order to acquire a SA'mmctrical and satisfactory view of 



