KERATOMA. 379 



The horn tumour seen in Fig. 73 is caused by pressure of the 

 toe-clip of the slioe, this having been hammered too tightly by 

 the smith, or becoming so by the animal striking the toe against 

 the ground. These tumours and their corresponding gaps in the 

 pedal bone are generally found in the toes of the hind feet ; but 

 it is by no means an uncommon thing to find them in the fore 

 feet, at the sides where the clips of the shoe are situated. I 

 have a case now under treatment with two in each fore foot. 

 Generally, a kind of fissure is seen in the outer shell of the wall, 

 or a concavity or depression without an actual fissure. There 

 is sometimes lameness ; occasionally the animal goes sound, the 

 absorption of the bone accommodating the horn tumour. A 

 horse whose feet are in this state is unsound, as the growth of 

 the tumour is apt to cause lameness. Now and then instances 

 may be seen where there is no apparent cause, no pressure of the 

 clip, the disease being apart from the portion of hoof upon which 

 a clip is usually situated. These tumours are analogous to corns 

 in the human feet, and consist of an increased secretion of horn, 

 generally caused by pressure. 



If they cause lameness, a method of treatment is recom- 

 mended, namely, the removal of the whole of the crust im- 

 niediately over the diseased part, by cutting through it on either 

 side from top to bottom, detaching it from the sole, and tearing 

 it off, leaving the sensitive parts exposed. This operation is 

 called " stripping the wall ;" it is a very cruel one, and should 

 never be performed except where the disease has resisted other 

 treatment, as it is sometimes followed by untoward and irre- 

 moveable results, which seem to have escaped the notice of those 

 who advocate its performance, not only for horn tumours, but 

 for seedy-toe and sand-crack. These results are — (1.) The 

 formation of successive abscesses and fistulse in the coronary 

 substance, before and during the growth of the new horn : (2.) 

 Destruction of the sensitive laminte, non-secretion of the horny 

 duplicates, and the consequent attacliment of the horny wall to 

 the OS pedis through the medium of a form of fibrous material, 

 easily excited to inflammation and suppuration : (3.) Formation 

 of abscesses at the coronet after the growth of the new wall, 

 arising from the sensitive laminse, bruised and lacerated by the 

 force of the operation, degenerating in some parts into circular 

 fungoid masses, which by growth separate the wall from its 



