DISEASES. 641 



n. Bouley describes two forms of the disease, the true and the 

 pretended or false contraction. In the first, the hoof is very nar- 

 row, sometimes even concave on its lateral face, to such an extent 

 that its antero-posterior considerably exceeds its tranverse diame- 

 ter; while at the same time its wall is more vertical, and the heels 

 considerably higher than normal, and the foot looks like that of a 

 mule, of which this is recognized as the normal appearance. In 

 the false contraction, there is merely a diminution of the transver- 

 sal diameter of the homy box in its posterior parts, the foot being 

 narrow and contracted at the heels only. 



We prefer to recognize a total contraction where the whole foot 

 is contracted, and is smaller than its fellow, atrophied^ so to speak, 

 consisting in a contraction of the quarter — when it is principally 

 narrow in those quarters, the condition extending back to the 

 heels — and a contraction of the heels when this is well marked 

 from the quarters to the heels only. A coronary and a plantar 

 contraction have also been designated, depending upon whether it 

 occurs at the superior or inferior part of the foot, and there are 

 cases where the contraction is intermediate, that is, in the middle 

 of the foot only, while it has its normal size, both at the coronary 

 band and at the plantar border. Siru/le and compUcated contrac- 

 tions have also been named. It is admitted that it may be con- 

 genital, though rare ; more often, however, it is developed by it- 

 self, as a result of special causes. 



I. Symptoms. — The physiognominal aspect of the hoof-bound 

 foot is characteristic, and it is by this that we shall begin the symj)- 

 tomatology of the disease. When the disease is total, the com- 

 plete general dimensions of the foot are observed to be smaller 

 than would be required by the size of the animal affected; most 

 frequently the hoof has an oval form, consequent upon the antero- 

 posterior diameter exceeding the lateral, which is generally dimin- 

 ished. In the contraction of the quarters, the narrow condition 

 of the foot is specially marked from the centre of the quarters 

 back to the heel. In contraction of the heels, the diminution is 

 very marked from the centre of the quarters to the end of the 

 heels, so that the two sides of the wall converge toward each other 

 posteriorly in following nearly a straight line, instead of the cir- 

 cular appearance of the normal state, and tfte heels have princi- 

 pally lost their round appearance, and are elongated, and even 

 pointed in appeai'ance. The wall, in the regions where the con- 



