t)»U OPERATIONS ON THE FOOT. 



very offensive pus, with granulation and proud flesh, or even sepa- 

 ration of the sole. 



Between the sole and wall the line of demarcation is no longer 

 so well defined as in the normal state. At the toe, the mammae 

 and the anterior part of the quarter, there is an excavation formed 

 of softer horn of bad nature, and less identified with the true 

 horn of the wall and of the sole. A complete vacuity is often 

 found, a cavity around the internal face of the wall at the toe and 

 at the mammae of varying depth and size, but always larger at the 

 inferior than at the sujDerior end of the foot, where it gradually 

 diminishes, and often contains a dry, granular mass, resulting 

 from the drying of the blood, and the di'ied plastic lymjjh, mixed 

 with small, horny, pulverized masses. This cavity is formed in 

 front by the healthy wall and posteriorly by a new wall due to 

 the secreted hoof thrown upon the podophyllous tissue ; this is 

 called seedy toe. This double wall is observed especially after 

 laminitis of the hind feet ; it is more common in the donkey and 

 the mule ; it is also noticed in horses with small feet, as in those 

 of Oriental breeds. 



The deformities of the horny box due to chronic laminitis are 

 not in all cases identical in their character; there are degrees in 

 them, and consequently they vary in their features, which varia- 

 tions are due to the duration of the disease and its intensity, and 

 also, according to H. Bouley, to the primitive form of the diseased 

 foot. In a case of chronic founder of the fore feet, one may often 

 notice a difference between the deformity of the left and that of 

 the right foot. The deformities may take place at various times, 

 and one may find a well-marked case of seedy toe while as yet 

 the wall has j)reserved its normal oblique direction and shown 

 rudimentary ramy appearances. Again, the wall may have under- 

 gone changes in its direction only at the new hoof, which grows 

 from the coronary band; there is then formed between the old 

 wall and the coronet a cu'cular groove, sometimes called the digi- 

 tal cavity, the deformities of the wall taking place only as it grows 

 down. At times, also, instead of the groove, there is a ridge of 

 horn at the coronary band, originating in the hyper-secretion of 

 the horn, which grows also downward. And, again, there are 

 cases where there is seedy toe and still no well-marked alteration 

 of the shape of the wall of the sole. 



Chronic laminitis is always accompanied with more or less 



