HORSES. . -' 



the nutrition of the bones, and thus compromise the utility of 

 the part. A healthy bone is composed of organic and inor- 

 ganic matter, which is united in certain dciinite proportions 

 though they relatively vary with age. In certain diseased 

 conditions of the sysLem there is a want of tlie earthy salts, 

 phosphate and carbonate of lime, in the blood, and hence the 

 bones are deprived of their solidity, and soon become dis- 

 torted, as is seen in Rickets. But, on the other hand, there 

 may be a surplus quantity of this earthy matter deposited in 

 the bones, and thus render them extremely brittle, like the 

 fragility of old ngc. Or an undue absorption of these earthy 

 salts may take place, and a softened bone be the result. Tliis 

 disease is known as " moUities osseum,'^ and though Of rare 

 occurrence either in the Inunan or equine system, yet it is fre- 

 quently seen in our New England cows in the form of " cripple 

 ail," especially in our hill farms, where the soluble phos- 

 phates have become nearly exhausted from the soil. The 

 desire which cows usually manifest in such localities to chew 

 bones is a clear index to the kind o^ fertilizers which those 

 lands most need. The free use of ground bone on such farms 

 will effectually cure this Osleomania, and will also prove a 

 potent lemedy when mixed with the feed to restore this fresh 

 and crippled condition of our milch cows. 



Again, both the organic and inorganic elements may become 

 partially absorbed, and tlius constitute a case of atrophy^ or 

 perisliing of the bone. But this disease is usually local in 

 cliaracter. 



The second class of bone diseases includes those which in- 

 volve the tissue in a simple or scrofulous inflammation. But 

 we will only notice under tiiis division those two very com- 

 mon affections which are known to pathologists as Necrosis 

 and Caries. The first of these, as the word implies, is the 

 death of a bone or any part of it, attended by a regenerative 

 process, established at the time coeval with the inflammation 

 or injury which deprives it of vitality. In this respect it is a 

 singular disease, and has nothing analagous to it in the aflec- 

 tions of the soft parts. V/liile Caries in its degenerative pro- 

 cess is very similar to the ulceration of the muscular tissues. 



