ACUTE LAMINITIS. 409 



be left on : indeed, some there are that consider such an act as un- 

 shoeing either as quite unnecessary or positively injurious. One 

 point in the matter is certain, and that is, if the shoes are to be 

 taken off, it ought to be done at the very commencement of the 

 attack, since the difficulty will be certain to increase the longer the 

 operation be deferred. 



And when the shoes are being moved is the time to have the 

 clefts of the frogs pared out to receive the setons I am going to 

 propose ; also, to have the soles of the hoofs pared and thinned, 

 as well as we are able : though even here different practices 

 prevail ; since some persons contend that the soles should be left 

 strong, whereby, they say, the coffin-bone is maintained in its place. 

 This to me, however, is taking an erroneous view of the pathology 

 of the case. For the detachment of the coffin-bone does not de- 

 pend upon want of support from below — though it is possible such 

 may delay for a time its actual descent; yet must the descent of 

 the bone necessarily follow the separation of the sensitive from the 

 horny laminse, nor can any thickness of sole prevent this, no more 

 than it can the ultimate bulge of its own body. D'Arboval re- 

 commends that the shoes the horse is wearing at the time of attack 

 be taken off, to be tacked on again with four nails unrivetted, or 

 be replaced by others of a lighter description, should they be heavy 

 or clumsy ; alleging that by so doing he relieves the foot from all 

 compression, and enables the horse to walk and stand, which he 

 cannot with any ease do without shoes, and on that account is 

 mostly found lying down. The sole, he adds, is so sensible in 

 laminitis that it requires protection from pressure ; and pressure 

 does not pain when confined to the border of the wall. A serious 

 objection, in my mind, to this practice is the hammering of feet in 

 a state of inflammation, to say nothing of the known difficulty, in 

 most cases, of shoeing the animal in such a condition. 



Whether the shoes be taken off or not — and, for my own part, I 

 am in favour of their removal — the next step in the treatment to 

 be taken is, in my opinion, the insertion oifrog-setons. In short, 

 I am, after no little experience in the matter, most decidedly an 

 espouser of the plan of treatment so strongly recommended and 

 deservedly extolled by Mr. Gabriel, in an admirable paper he sent 



VOL. IV. 3 G 



