PANARITIUM. 1101 



La.mini.tis the inner claw is chiefly affected, and the four feet are brought 

 together under the body. The back is arched, the feet constantly 

 shifting or " paddling " ; rumination is suppressed ; the animal 

 refuses food, has a fever temperature, and is more or less constipated. 

 Pain is evinced whether the animal merely stands or endeavours 

 to walk. Emaciation is very rapid. The horn of the coronet seems 

 to sink in, and the claws to separate from the bulbs of the heel. At 

 a later stage suppuration occurs, the disease in this respect differing 

 from laminitis in horses, and the pus may break through at the coronet 

 or the horny claw may be shed. 



As a rule, the attack terminates by resolution in eight to fifteen 

 days ; chronic cases sometimes occur, with deformity of the wall 

 and sole, " ringing " of the wall, and increased horn formation at 

 the white line. Shedding of the hoof may take place early or only 

 towards the close of the attack, and is usually associated with 

 suppuration and necrosis of the keratogenous membrane. 



Treatment consists in absolute rest and local cold applications for 

 working oxen. The diet should be light. When suppuration and loss 

 of the hoof occur, they render the case so serious that treatment is 

 seldom justifiable from an economic standpoint, and the animal 

 should be slaughtered. 



IV.— PANARITIUM, WHITLOW OF THE CLAW, PANARIS. 



The term " panaritium " is used to distinguish an acute inflam- 

 mation, rapidly leading to suppuration, and always attended with 

 necrosis, which in man occurs under the nail, in oxen appears at 

 different parts of the claws, and extends thence to more distant points. 

 The use of the word is quite justifiable, for in cattle the condition 

 attacks the part homologous with the nail, and the process develops in 

 just the same way as in man. Panaritium is due to wound infection, 

 followed by cellulitis, which, partly in consequence of the action of 

 the infectmg agent, partly of the anatomical formation of the diseased 

 parts, always tends to necrosis. In oxen the claws are exceedingly 

 exposed to such infection. Being almost always surrounded by dirt, 

 slight injuries of the skin, which are certainly not uncommon, at 

 once open the way to infection, and this again often extends to deeper- 

 seated structures. The process is, therefore, not confined to the skin, 

 but extends to the subcutis, and not infrequently to the tendon sheaths, 

 bones, and joints, producing conditions of the gravest character. 



Being essentially due to infection, this disease sometimes extends 

 very widely, appears more frequently in certain establishments, 



