624 OPERATIONS ON THE FOOT. 



crack is that of Hartmann. It consists in applying upon the wall 

 a sheet of iron, adapted to its outside, and secured on the foot by 

 two small screws. 



Clasps are of a certain utility for toe cracks, but they often fail 

 in quarter cracks, on account of the thin condition of the wall, 

 which is particularly well marked in some feet. If the living tis- 

 sues are encroached upon, the clasp may give rise to complica- 

 tions, and still it is in that region that the effect of the motion of 

 the hoof must be prevented, and where immobility is essential, to 

 prevent the separation and spread of the edges of the crack. 



Castandet has indicated a mode of treatment which has proved 

 very successful, and which may be applied to both toe and quarter 

 crack, where the fissure of the wall extends from the coronary band 

 to the lower border of the foot. It consists in making a groove 

 at about one centimeter on each side of the crack, which in depth 

 extends to its bottom, which, when reached, is white. If the 

 solution does not go to the lower border of the foot, these grooves 

 are made obliquely, and so as to meet together at their lower 

 termination, and form a V-shape. Thus the crack cannot increase, 

 and it grows down without injury to the soft tissues. Castandet, 

 after this operation, cauterizes the coronary band. 



The transversal groove, recommended by Levrat, which cuts 

 the tissues in two and extends beyond the crack on each side about 

 three centimeters, which goes down to the soft tissues of the foot 

 and not beyond them, has for its object to diminish the e£fect of 

 percussion produced by the contact of the foot with the ground. 

 It, however, does not prevent the edges of the fissure from sepa- 

 rating, as the groove of Castandet does. It is chiefly useful when 

 there is a separation of the wall, or false quarter. At times a 

 transverse groove has been made to prevent an incomplete fissure, 

 starting from the plantar border, from spreading to the coronary 

 band. According to Hartmann, a single hole drilled through the 

 wall is, in most cases, sufficient. 



Shoeing is of much assistance in the hygienic treatment of 

 cracks. In toe cracks, the toe should be spared as much as pos- 

 sible while the heels are lowered by paring, or by the application 

 of a shoe thicker at the toe, or by the removal of the calks at the 

 heels. While Defays holds that the shoe ought to lie close and 

 tight to the plantar regions of the crack, Hartmann, on the con- 

 trary, advises the paring of that surface at the toe, so that the shoe 



