THE FOOT.] 



THE HOESE, AND 



[corns. 



Application in sucli cases is vinegar, which put 

 on the inflamed parts, two or three times a 

 day. The spirit of turpentine is also good, 



and, if administered with discretion, and a pro- 

 per regard to quantity, mixed with a certain 

 proportion of oil, may be beneficial. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 



DISEASKS OF THE FEET.— THE FOOT IN GENERAL ; CORNs ; INFLAMMATION ; CONTRACTION, OR NAVI- 

 CULAR DISEASE ; GROGGINESS ; PUMICED FOOT ; THRUSH ; SANDCRACK ; PUNCTURED FOOT ; OVER- 

 REACHING ; aUITHOR ; CANKER ; F.ALSE QUARTER. 



THE FOOT IN GENERAL. 

 Whoever has seen the anatomy of the horse's 

 foot, must acknowledge it to be one of tlie 

 finest pieces of mechanism ever fashioned by 

 Nature. It ought to form a part of the study 

 of every man who keeps a horse ; and if those 

 lovers of horses, the country gentlemen, were 

 well acquainted with the anatomy of the foot, 

 they would, themselves, have an opportunity 

 of preventing the many errors committed by 

 bungling farriers in the shoeing of their horses, 

 and the veterinary surgeon would receive less 

 blame than sometimes falls to his lot. Por 

 example: the veterinarian is supposed to be 

 proprietor of a shoeing forge, with several 

 workmen ; and, above all, he is supposed to 

 have Q. foreman, to see that all shall be right. 

 What is the consequence? A gentleman 

 sends for the surgeon, and informs him that 

 his horse is ill-shod at his establishment, and 

 he scarcely can ride him, he stumbles so. The 

 consequence is, that the surgeon orders him 

 to his forge, and promises he will see and 

 attend to the shoeing himself. He does so, 

 and the shoes are taken olf, and in all proba- 

 bility their having been nailed on too firmly is 

 the cause of all tlie evil. Tliis being attended 

 to, under the master's eye, immediate relief is 

 given, and the horse is sent away with satis- 

 faction. But how is it tliat neither the fore- 

 man, nor any other of the workmen could 

 discover this, but the master alone. Now, if 

 the master have any medical practice, he can- 

 not be in two places at once. Therefore the 

 shoeing department must be left to the fore- 

 man, who, unfortunately, frequently under- 

 stands as much about the matter as the piece 

 304 



of iron he is working on ; but, in case of a 

 repetition, the surgeon gets the blame ; and, in 

 all probability, he stands a chance of losing an 

 employer. Many persons would say, "How 

 is this ; the man has shod horses for these 

 twenty years, and he ought to know ?" An 

 easy answer follows : " Does he know the ana- 

 tomy of the horse's foot ?" " No ; I am not 

 aware that he does." 



But to return to the foot. It will not be 

 necessary to advert to the anatomy of that im- 

 portant organ. Our business is to point out 

 its various diseases, with the best means of 

 cure, which we shall endeavour to do ; and as 

 corns are so common, we shall treat of them 

 first. 



CORNS. 



Corns originate in an injury done to one of 

 the most vascular parts ; and itself is equally 

 vascular, and instead of tending to increase the 

 cuticle (i. e., the horn) over it, derives its 

 principal character from being inimical to 

 every future growth of it. These very trouble- 

 some aftections arise from injury done to the 

 vessels of the sensitive sole, exactly at the sur- 

 face of union between it and the horny sole, 

 whereby blood becomes extravasated within 

 the angle of the inflexions of the heels ; that is, 

 between the outer crust and the bars. They 

 appear, in every instance, the effect of improper 

 pressure, by which the sensitive vascular sole 

 becomes acted on between the horny sole and 

 the heels of the coffin-bone. This disease is 

 equally produced, whether thf pressure arise 

 from the horn of the sole, or the horn of the 

 walls ; and it is from the pressure of the walls 



