IflRUSlI, OR FKUSII— CAUSE AND SYMPTOMS. 18<J 



•v'fore T entei into other particulars, as to fore foot and hind foot. In all the 

 little dissertations which I have ventured upon in this book, and elsewhere, as 

 to the structure of the foot, and all the dissections I have made from time to 

 time. I have taken the fore leg and foot only, with one unimportant exception. 

 I know not why this preference was first made ; I believe it to be general, but 

 is of very little importance. For the hind foot, though a little smaller, and 

 somewhat more upright in form, corresponds exactly in all its parts with the 

 fore one, until age and deformity comes on; the back sinew descending frona 

 the hough behind the pastern bones, until its insertion underneath the coffin 

 bone of the hind leg, in the same manner as before described, as pertaining to 

 the knee and bones of the fore leg. Further, I believe the name given by the 

 (earned to this sinew in the hind leg differs from that given to it in the fore- 

 leg, that being tendo plantaris, this one the tendo palmaris ; a distinction that 

 became necessary, perhaps, that they might be enabled to make themselves 

 understood by each other, when speaking of this important tendon as belong- 

 ing to the one or the other leg. 



When we reflect upon this strict accordance between the structure of the 

 fore foot and the hind, and then look over and lament the numerous disorders 

 that the first is liable to, whilst the hinder one is comparatively free, it gives us 

 reason to pause. But without entering upon an elaborate investigation of this 

 diirerence as to health, I come to the conclusion that we ought to attribute dis- 

 eases of the feet, as I have already those of the body, to excessive heat of the 

 vascular system, promoted by the great exertions the animal is put to, and the 

 rude concussions the fore feet in particular endure at every step ; thus creating 

 heat and attracting hither any evil humours that may afflict the body gene- 

 rally 



FRUSH, OR THRUSH. 



A running of matter at the cleft of the frog was formerly called " a running 

 (rush ;" the moderns, however, write it " thrush." But, to fritsh, being old 

 English for, to break, or crack, or crush, like the cracking of walnuts, 1 pre- 

 fer that term before thrush. 



Cause. — Depraved habit of body and disordered pulse always accompany- 

 ing the appearance of a frush, I have no hesitation in ascribing its origin to 

 that remote cause, especially as it is proved to be a deep-seated morbid accu- 

 mulation ; aided more immediately, perhaps, by an injury received whilst tra- 

 velling, either by the bruise of a stone, or the insertion of gravel at the parts. 

 This latter, however, is not a necessary cause of frush, though the gravel and 

 3irt work into the ulcer as soon as it opens ; for the lurking approach of the 

 Jisease towards this consummate symptom may be ascertained by turning up 

 the hoof and pressing the cleft, which will give pain and occasion the animal 

 to flinch : inflammation has already begun at the insertion of the back sinew 

 in the bottom of the coffin-bone, where the branches of crural artery also 

 enter the bone, at the bottom whereof is the sensible sole which separates il 

 from the horny sole. See this structure of the foot described at page 166, 

 &c. Filthy stables promote frush, and, when the cure may be nearly effect- 

 ed, cause relapse in nine cases out of ten. 



Symptoms. — The earliest, as just said, isdenoteo by tenderness at theclefl, 

 accoQipanied by sharp, quickened and irregular pulse, as usual in all cases of 

 local inflammation, being at the same time both cause and effect. Of course 

 it follows, that as the disorder in the sensible frog proceeds towards maturity, 

 the blood feels and tells of that fact by increased disorder of the pulsation. 

 These timely indications being neglected, as usually happens, if the animaJl 

 be then put along over stony or newly -dressed roads, the first discovered symj>. 

 18* 



