310 THE PRACTICE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE. 



doses, SO that it will fully establish its action in as short a 

 time as possible. A full dose of cathartic medicine should 

 be administered without delay on the first appearance of the 

 disease, except in such cases as are induced by superpurga- 

 tion, etc., when it should be withheld. Constipation, until 

 catharsis becomes fully established, may be relieved by 

 enemas freely administered. In the greatest number of 

 cases it will be found advisable to remove the shoes, allow- 

 ing them to remain only in cases where the foot is bad and 

 of a weak conformation. After removing the shoes, the 

 wall should be rasped down to a certain extent. Fomenta- 

 tions as hot as the animal can bear may be freely used, and 

 should be applied from the knees down, being valuable to 

 soothe and allay irritation, after which poultices of boiled 

 turnips, linseed-meal, bran, etc., may be applied for four or 

 five days, being changed as often as necessary, at the end of 

 which time a very perceptible improvement will almost in- 

 variably be noticed, and all the symptoms will show that 

 recovery is taking place. In some cases, where the patient 

 persists in retaining the standing posture, it becomes neces- 

 sary to lay him down, and once down, he will almost in- 

 variably remain in that position on account of the relief 

 experienced. Cold applications are very good, as cold 

 water, cold poultices, etc., more especially during the summer 

 season. If the animal does not obtain relief in four or five 

 days after the above treatment has been employed, the 

 practitioner may know that exudation more or less copious 

 has taken place, and it must be removed by cutting in at the 

 toe and allowing it to escape. This done, relief is quickly 

 obtained. A very slight exudate may be removed by the 

 absorptive process, which may be materially hastened by 

 putting the animal on a course of potassium iodide. When 

 recovery is taking place, slight exercise, such as moving the 

 animal around the stall in a gentle manner, will be found 



