CORA'S. 421 



horn will never unite, and every portion of tlie liorny sole that lias sepa- 

 rated from the fleshy sole above must be removed, Tlie separation viust 

 he foUuived as far it reaches. Much of the success of the treatment depends 

 on this. No small strip or edge of separated horn must be suffered to 

 press upon any part of the wound ; some soft tow, dipped in Friar's 

 balsam, being spread on the part, the foot stopped, and a poultice placed 

 over all if the inflammation seems to require it. On the following day a 

 thin pelHcle of horn will frequently be found over a part or the whole of 

 the wound. If there is an appearance of fungus sprouting from the ex- 

 posed surface, the application of a caustic such as nitric acid may be 

 necessary, the tow being again placed over it, so as to afibrd considerable 

 }'et imiform pressure. Many days do not often elapse before the new 

 horn covers the whole of the wound. In these extensive openings the 

 Friar's balsam will not always be successful, but if not, the cure must be 

 effected by the judicious and never-too-severe use of the caustic. A dose 

 of physic will be resorted to as a useful auxiliary when much inflamma- 

 tion arises. 



In searching the foot in order to ascertain the existence of prick, there 

 is often something very censurable in the carelessness with which the 

 horn is cut away betAveen the bottom of the crust and the sole, so as to 

 leave little or no hold for the nails, although some m.onths must elapse 

 before the horn will grow down suflBciently far for the shoe to be securely 

 fastened. 



When a free opening has been made below, and matter has not broken 

 out at the coronet, it will rarely be necessary to remove any portion of 

 the horn at the quarters, although he may be able to ascertain by the use 

 of the probe that the separation of the crust extends for a considerable 

 space above the sole. 



CORNS. 



In the angle between the bars (c, p. 395) and the quarters, the horn of 

 the sole has sometimes a red appearance, and is more spongy and softer 

 than at any other part. The horse flinches when this portion of the horn 

 is pressed upon, and occasional or permanent lameness is produced. This 

 disease of the foot is termed corns : bearing this resemblance to the corn 

 of the human being that it is produced by pressure, and is a cause of 

 lameness. Wlien corns are neglected, so much inflammation is produced 

 in that part of the sensitive sole that suppuration follows, and the matter 

 either undermines the homy sole, or is discharged at the coronet. 



The pressure hereby produced manifests itself in various ways. When 

 the shoe is suffered to remain on too long, it becomes imbedded in the heel 

 of the foot ; the external crust grows down on the outside of it, and the 

 bearing is thrown on this angular portion of the sole. No part of the sole 

 can bear pressure, and inflammation and corns are the result. From the 

 length of wear the shoe sometimes becomes loosened at the heels, and 

 gravel insinuates itself between the shoe and the crust, and accumulates 

 in this angle, and sometimes seriously wounds it. 



The bars are too frequently cut away, and then the heel of the shoe m.ust 

 be bevelled inward, in order to answer to this absurd and injurious shaping 

 of the foot. By tliis slanting direction of the heel of the shoe inward, an 

 unnatural disposition to contraction is given, and the sole must suffer in 

 two ways, — in being pressed upon by the shoe, and squeezed between the 

 outer crust and the external portion of the bar. The shoe is often made 

 unnecessarily narrow at the heels, by which this angle, seemingly less dis- 

 posed to bear pressure than any other part of the foot, is exj^osed to acci- 

 dental bruises. If, in the paring out of the foot, the smith should leave 



