42i BUKEAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTKY. 



Neither is this nil; for in some of these cases of pcditis acute inflam- 

 mation of the coflin joint is present, and occasionally suppuration of 

 the joint. A mild form of periostitis, in which the exudation is in 

 the outer layer of the periosteuni onh', is a more common condition 

 than is recoy;nized by practitioners generally. Intimate contiguity of 

 structures is the predisposing cause, for the disease either spreads from 

 the original seat or the complication occurs as one of the primary 

 results of the exciting cause. In the severer cases where the exudate 

 separates the periosteum from the bone, suppuration, gangrene, and 

 superlicial caries are common results. If intiltration of the bone tissues 

 is rapid the blood supply is cut off by pressure upon the vessels and 

 death of the collinbone follows. Grave constitutional S3''mptoms mark 

 these changes, which soon prove fatal. 



In the mild cases of periostitis it is by no means easy to determine 

 its presence positively, for there are no special symptoms by which it 

 ma}' be distinguished from pure laminitis. In a majority' of acute 

 cases, though, which show no signs of improvement bj^ the fifth to 

 seventh daj^, it is safe to suspect periostitis, particularly if the coro- 

 nets are very hot, the pulse full and hard, and the lameness acute. 

 In the fortunately rare cases ^vhere the bone is affected W'ith inflam- 

 mation and suppuration, the agony of the patient is intense; he occu- 

 pies the recumbent position almost continually, never standing for 

 more than a few minutes at a time; suffers from the most careful 

 handling of the affected feet; maintains a rapid pulse and respiration, 

 high temperature, loss of appetite, and great thirst. It is in these 

 cases the patient continualh' grows worse, and the appearance of sup- 

 puration at the top of the hoof in about two weeks after the inception 

 of the disease proves the inefficiency of any treatment which may have 

 been used and the hopelessness of the case. These patients die usually 

 between the tenth and tAventieth days either from exhaustion or 

 P3^emic infection. 



Gangrene OQQ\Ui> in the periosteum as the result of excessive detach- 

 ment from the bone and compression due to excessive exudation. 

 Other parts of the sensitive tissues are subject to the same fate occa- 

 sionally, and at times large territories Avill be found dead. 



Pumiced sole is that condition in which the liorny sole in the neigh- 

 borhood of the toe readily crumbles away and leaves the sensitive 

 tissues more or less exposed. It is not a complication of laminitis 

 only, for it is seen under other conditions. Williams has described the 

 horny tissue of pumiced sole as " weak, cheesy, or spongy, like macer- 

 ated horn, or even grumous." This crumbling horn, when criticall}'' 

 examined, shows almost an entire absence of the cohesive matter which 

 unites the healthy libers, while the fibers themselves are irregular and 

 granular in appearance. Pumiced sole depends upon an impairment 



