DISEASES OF THE BONES. iTl 



character; there may also be a discharge which is usually profuse 

 and of a very offensive character. 



Treatment. — There is no means known by which a cure can 

 be effected. 



FRAGILITAS OSSIUM 



Is an unnatural, hard, and fragile condition of the bones, due 

 to fatty degeneration of the animal basis and to the presence of an 

 undue quantity of earthy material. 



Symptoms. — The disease chiefly affects old horses. Bad thriv- 

 ers, with small articulations, badly-formed hocks and knees, and 

 round pasterns, are subject to it. The animal moves stiffly and 

 may have a roached back; he shows a tendency to ring-bone, 

 spavin, etc. "When down, he has difficulty in getting up. If such 

 an animal be cast, or fall, fracture of some of the bones is an 

 almost sure result. 



Treatment. — Like the previous condition, it is incurable and 

 useless to treat. 



OSTEO POROSIS. 



This is a non-malignant disease of bone and of a non-inflamma- 

 tory type. It is commonly known as ''big-head." It consists of a 

 porous condition of the bone, which is increased in size without 

 proportional increase in weight. It prevails most extensively in 

 the great valley of the Mississippi, in the States of Tennessee, 

 Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama. As we recede 

 from the great river and its influences, it gradually diminishes, 

 yet isolated cases may be found throughout the country, from the 

 Atlantic to the plains of the far west, and from the Ohio and the 

 Potomac to the Gulf of Mexico. 



As a rule, the bones of the face are the first to suffer; but this 

 is liable to exceptions. The animal in most instances shows a 

 defective action, perhaps, in one joint or limb only^ in which, 

 upon examination, tenderness will be evinced with heat, and in a 

 few days visible enlargomont. In a course of a week another limb 

 may become affected in the same way, when the acute symptoms 



