290 HORSE, SWINE AND POULTRY DISEASES 



dally where the suppurative process extends to the periosteum, the 

 results axe apt to be fatal. 



Pumiced sole is that condition in which the horny sole in the 

 neighborhood of the toe readily crumbles away and leaves the sensi- 

 tive tissues more or less exposed. It is not a complication of lamin- 

 itis only, for it is seen under other conditions. This crumbling 

 horn, when critically examined, shows almost an entire absence of 

 the cohesive matter which unites the healthy fibers, while the fibers 

 themselves are irregular and granular in appearance. Pumiced sole 

 depends upon an impairment of the horn-secreting powers of the sen- 

 sitive sole, or upon a separation of the horny from the soft tissues 

 which maintain its vitality. 



Treatment. The treatment of laminitis is probably more 

 varied than in any other disease, and yet a large number of cases re- 

 cover for even the poorest practitioner. To guard against and prevent 

 disease, or to render an unpreventable attack less serious than it other- 

 wise would be, is the highest practice of the healing art. In a disease 

 so prone to result from the simplest causes, especially when the sound- 

 est judgment may not be able to determine the extent of the disease- 

 resisting powers of the tissues which are liable to be affected, or of 

 what shall in every instance constitute an overexcitement, it is not 

 strange that horse owners find themselves in trouble from uninten- 

 tional transgression. If the disease was dependent upon specific 

 causes, or if the stability of the tissues were of a fixed or more nearly 

 determinate quality, some measures might be instituted that would 

 prove generally preventive. But the predisposing causes are com- 

 mon conditions and often cannot be remedied. That which is gen- 

 tle work in one instance may incite disease in another. That which is 

 food today may tomorrow prove disastrous to health. Finally, neces- 

 sary medical interference, no matter how judicious, may cause a more 

 serious complaint than that which was being treated. Notwithstand- 

 ing these difficulties there are some general rules to be observed that 

 will in part serve to prevent the development of an unusual number 

 of cases. First of all the predisposing causes must be removed where 

 possible; when this is impossible unusual care must be taken not to 

 bring into operation an exciting cause. Fat animals should, under 

 no circumstances, have hard work. If the weather is warm or the 

 variation of temperature great, all horses should have but slow, 

 gentle labor until they become inured to it, the tissues hardened, and 

 their excitability reduced to a minimum. Green horses should have 

 moderate work, particularly when taken from the farm and dirt 

 roads to city pavements ; for increased concussion, changed hygienic 

 conditions, and artificial living readily become active causes of the 

 disease under these circumstances. Army horses just out of winter 

 quarters, track horses with insufficient preparation, and farmers' 

 horses put to work in the spring are among the most susceptible 

 classes, and must be protected by work that is easy and gradual. If 

 long marches or drives are imperative, the incumbrances must be as 

 light as possible and the journey interspersed with frequent rests, 

 for this allows the laminae to regain their impaired functional activ- 



