838 THE MODERN I10RSK DOCTOR. 



ated itself into the crack. When the hoof is sufficiently softened, 

 it should be cleansed, examined, and dressed with tincture of 

 myrrh. Select a spot about an inch below the coronet, and with 

 a small gimlet bore a hole through the two edges of the crack, and 

 another one inch above the toe. A straight needle, armed with 

 a strong ligature, is to be passed through the upper holes, 

 brought over and through a second time ; thus closing the two 

 edges of the fissure by what the sailors term a " round turn." The 

 same thing is to be repeated at the toe. The assistant, by the 

 aid of pincers or otherwise, shuts the crack as close as possible ; 

 the ligatures are each drawn tight, and tied with a surgeon's 

 knot. A small quantity of blister ointment is to be smeared 

 over the crack, and bar shoe applied. A quarter crack may be 

 treated in a similar manner, omitting, however, the sutures. 



The cure is accomplished in two ways — first, by fusion ; sec- 

 ondly, by the growth of new horn from the matrix downwards. 

 After the edges have firmly united, cut the ligatures, and 

 pare the uneven edges of the cicatrix level with the surrounding 

 parts, and the cure is completed. 



QUITTOR. 



Quittor is a fistulous opening running between the sensible 

 and insensible laminae of the foot ; the opening, or sinus, runs in 

 various directions downward ; at other times, the lateral carti- 

 lages are in connection with it, and become diseased. It gen- 

 erally makes its appearance on the inside of the foot, near the 

 matrix of the hoof. In such case, its origin is from bruise or 

 wound. It arises also from pricks in shoeing, gmvel, neglected 

 corns, &c. Should a nail enter the sensitive lamina? of the foot, 

 and cause suppuration, and the lower outlet become plugged up, 

 the matter moves upward, burrowing through the tissues, until it 

 gains exit above the hoof. This is a true quittor. A disease 

 of this character is often very difficult to heal, unless attended 

 to in its early stage; and a practitioner gains but very little 

 credit in curing such, because he has been so long about it. 

 It frequently happens that we not only have the quittor to con- 

 tend with, but considerable tumefaction and morbid enlargement 



