432 LAMIKITIS. 



sellers of them have afterwards been condemned as dishonest 

 traders, and been compelled to refund all the purchase money. 

 Metastasis, or the transition of disease from one part of the 

 organism to another — as, for example, from the bowels to the 

 feet ; or from the lungs to the feet is another, but not a fre- 

 quent cause of Laminitis : whenever it does occur, however, it 

 is invariably associated with excessive constitutional debility. 



Treatment. — The treatment of Laminitis, like all other 

 diseases, should have strict reference to its cause. "When the 

 malady arises from acute or chronic disease of the digestive 

 organs, or from general debility causing Metastasis, it will be 

 evident that if we intend our curative efforts to prove successful, 

 we should direct them partly to the digestive organs, or to the 

 removal of the constitutional debility, as the case may be. Even 

 in those cases which may appear to solely arise from the animal 

 being over- driven— or, in short, from any other cause of an 

 external nature — the careful practitioner will never lose sight 

 of these facts. 



Another matter of great importance also requires to be 

 noticed ere we enter upon the general question of treatment — 

 viz. : patients affected with this disease seldom or never lie 

 down, either at the commencement, or during its most violent 

 stages. Many practitioners, in consequence of this, recom- 

 mend laminitic patients to be slung ; but slinging horses ought 

 never be resorted to in disease, except under circumstances of 

 the most urgent character, and then only for as short a period 

 as possible. The proper way to act is to lay the patient down, 

 according to Mr. Earey's plan ; and in cases of acute Laminitis, 

 very little trouble suffices to effect this. Buckle up a fore-leg, 

 and hold the patient steady, and in a few minutes he will drop 

 upon his side — almost without a struggle. 



