3&0 THE FARM DOCTOR. 



tenderness on pinching that part of the hoof, and when the 

 shoe is removed and the hoof pared, there is observed a semi- 

 circular encroachment on the sole by a white spongy horn 

 extending in from the hoof-wall. Wet swabs on the foot and 

 rest may subdue any inflammation, but should lameness persist, 

 the only resort is to cut out a triangular portion of the wall 

 including the tumour, poultice the part, then cover with tar 

 and wait for the horn to grow down in a healthy condition. 



CORNS. 



These are at first simple bruises of that part of the sole in- 

 cluded between the bars and the wall at the heel, but later 

 there is often an increased production of horn and the formation 

 of a horny tumour which presses injuriously on the quick. In 

 other cases the bruise causes active inflammation and the 

 formation of matter, which, if denied escape below, will burrow 

 toward the coronet or less frequently around the toe and give 

 rise to disease in the deeper fibrous network, the cartilage, 

 or the bone. In these last conditions it usually results in a 

 fistula (quittor). In other cases the corn is pared out as is 

 supposed, but the heels, having lost the mechanical support of 

 the sole, curl forward and inward, repeat the bruise continually, 

 keep up the inflammation and suppuration and what is equiva- 

 lent to an open sore in the heel. The irritation often produces 

 absorption of the margin of the bone at the heels with bony 

 deposits above or below, and ossification of the lateral cartilage, 

 a condition which almost necessarily perpetuates the bruises or 

 corns (see side bones). Corns may exist in either heel, but are 

 usually in the inner or weaker one, and prevail above all in 

 flat feet with low weak heels. 



Symptoms. — Lameness with a tendency to point, with the heel 

 slightly raised when at rest, and a short, stilty, stumbling step 

 when moved. Pinching the affected heel with pincers or tap- 

 pmg it with a hammer causes wincing. If the shoe is removed 



