DISEASES. 691 



It has been advised to take the shoes off. This is not only a 

 difficult operation, on account of the sufferings of the animal, ob- 

 liged to stand upon one leg, but it seems to us useless. Shoeing 

 has not the effect supposed of it in the etiology. If it is well 

 fitted it is not uncomfortable to the foot, while its removal from 

 the foot, hy the hammering it requu'es, is always painful, and had 

 better be avoided. 



It has been recommended to pare the foot, to shorten it, to 

 thin the sole down ; but this operation seems to us in many cases 

 superfluous. It is true that the topics will act more readily upon 

 the living tissues underneath, but the advantages thus obtained 

 do not compensate for the difficulty of the operation; at any rate, 

 it cannot be done' except when the animal lies down. 



We shall pass silently the effect, so to speak homeopathic, 

 that English veterinarians pretend to obtain with very warm 

 poultices around the foot, and which have their reasons only when 

 suppuration or gangrene is threatening. Neither shall we refer 

 to the compression of the foot, recommended by Nanzio — a treat- 

 ment which is much nicer in theory than in practice. In a great 

 number of cases, the patient is considerably relieved by resting 

 on a good bed, and this is especially necessary for severe laminitis 

 when locomotion is very painful. However, in less serious cases, 

 walking on soft ground, especially on grass, is an excellent treat- 

 ment. It stimulates the circulation in parts where the blood has 

 a tendency to accumulate, and controls the venous engorgement 

 of the keratogenous tissue. It has been sometimes recommended 

 to support the animal in slings to relieve him ; but as with this 

 one would expose his patient to pulmonary complication, it is bet- 

 ter to cast him and keep him in that forced position, being careful 

 to turn him over from time to time. 



A dietetic regime, light feeding, during the first days at least, 

 cooling drinks, rectal injections and comfortable blankets are all 

 indicated. 



One must particularly watch what takes place in the foot, and 

 for this purpose grooves made at the surface of the foot have also 

 been recommended; but they cannot be made deep enough, as 

 the wall is always there resisting more or less to the eccentric 

 forces of the deep parts. 



If toward the third or fourth day there is no marked improve- 

 ment, especially in traumatic founder, if even the patient becomes 



