390 LAMINITIS. 



selves to become mechanically injured. In the present state of 

 the art of shoeing the iron horseshoe nmst be regarded as a neces- 

 sary evil. That it is productive of a variety of harm, imme- 

 diate and remote, to the foot, there can be no doubt. But then we 

 cannot do without it. Our roads have been such, of late years, 

 as more than ever to call for defence for the foot. We have im- 

 proved them, but left our horseshoes in the state they were, 

 notwithstanding it has been the chief aim of those who have 

 studied farriery to shoe horses in such manner as should, while the 

 shoe afforded the required defence and durability, in the least 

 impede or incommode the ease and action of the foot. 



But the foot is not only a part peculiarly obnoxious to disease, 

 its diseases themselves manifest peculiarities, owing to being seated 

 in tissues differing, in some cases remarkably, from tissues of the 

 body in general. The horny case in which they are enveloped 

 likewise places these tissues under conditions different from those 

 of other parts. The sensitive laminae are of texture and function 

 unlike other parts. The coronary body, again, has its peculiarities; 

 and so have the sensitive sole and frog ; and what is called the 

 fatty frog also ; and even the coffin-bone itself. Navicularthritis 

 is the disease of the foot which alone belongs properly to a class 

 affecting other parts (joints) in common ; and for that reason has 

 already been treated of in another place*. The diseases we have 

 now to treat of, so far as affecting the same organ, and that alone, 

 form a class by themselves ; yet do they differ in nature, cause, 

 and treatment, one from another, as much almost as any diseases 

 of the body can be said to do. 



LAMINITIS. 



Fever in the Feet — Acute Founder. 

 Of these three Appellations for the same disease, laminitis 

 is the name most in accordance with our modern nomenclature ; 

 fever in the feet, the one most in common use, and, indeed, most 

 expressive of the translated form of the disease; w\\\\e founder is 

 very significant of the utterly helpless, and but too often hopeless, 



* In " Class I," under the head of " Lamenesses arising from Diseases of 

 Joints and Bursae Mucosae :" see Part I of this vol., p. 131. 



