434 FRUSH. 



been the cause of the" frush, the entire cleft exhibits " a mass 

 of corruption." Nor does the disease now any longer confine 

 its ravages to the cleft, but extends them throughout the sub- 

 stance of the frog ; the matter insinuating itself between the 

 fibres of the horn, under-running the substance of the frog from 

 heel to toe, and along the sides particularly, and so laying the 

 foundation for complete destruction of the body. In the inci- 

 pient stages of the disease the discharge is ichorous, i. e. thin, 

 acrid, and serous in its nature ; afterwards it turns to purulent 

 matter, though by its colour it would rarely be recognised as 

 such, owing to its being stained of a dingy, dark or sooty hue, 

 through the decaying horn, which becomes eroded by and partially 

 dissolved in it. In the worst stages of frush, when large 

 and open chasms of rottenness and corruption exist in the frogs, 

 and there be many such horses standing together, the stench 

 arising from their combined offensive odour is so great that the 

 very atmosphere of the stable is contaminated by it ; the smell 

 thereof being perceptible that any person acquainted with it 

 pronounces at once, on entering the stable, what is going on 

 amiss there. 



Frush affects the hind as well as the fore Feet, 

 and in this circumstance differs from most other foot diseases. 

 And the reason why it does so appears obvious, when we come 

 to consider how much the hind frogs are apt to be raised off the 

 ground by shoes with calkings, and how very much exposed 

 the hind feet are, in stables in general, to wet and dirt from the 

 excretions. Still, we more frequently find frushes in the fore 

 than in the hind feet, owing to the application of causes occa- 

 sioning contraction in them whose power is counteracted from 

 exerting the same influence in the hind feet. 



The Pathology of Frush will require for its explanation 

 a reference to the physiology of the part affected, which we 

 have found to be the cleft of the sensitive frog. This part of 

 the foot receives into its cavity the obverse side of the cleft of 

 the horny frog, a part to which Bracy Clark has given the name 

 o{ Frog-stay ; and the mortice sort of connexion thus subsisting 

 between the sensitive foot and horny hoof, while it operates in 



