NAVICULAB DISEASE. 505 



The patient should rest three or four months at the very- 

 least after being fired, and the high- heeled shoe should remain 

 upon the foot during the whole period. 



NAVICULAR DISEASE. 



Navicular Disease, or, as Mr. Percival designates it, 

 " Navicularthritis," is another of those maladies giving rise 

 to lameness which but too frequently prove incurable. 



The ravages of this disease, for the most part, are confined 

 to the navicular joints of the fore feet. The corresponding 

 structures of the hind feet, however, are not as stated by 

 Percival and others, entirely exempt from the malady. 



The disease is hereditary in some breeds of horses. Its 

 attack in many cases is sudden ; while in others it is insidious ; 

 and in the generality of cases it is slow in its progress. 



The first individual who discovered this disease, or at any 

 rate, who first made the discovery known, and benefited the 

 public thereby, was Mr. James Turner, veterinary surgeon, 

 late of Croydon ; before whose time people invariably referred 

 the cause of this form of lameness to disease of the shoulder, 

 an error which is yet very frequently committed by individuals 

 who undertake the treatment of equine diseases, who are 

 ignorant of every true principle relating to the practice of 

 veterinary medicine. 



The most conspicuous organ which nature has provided (I 

 may almost say) for the especial protection of the navicular 

 joint, is the frog of the foot ; this organ acts as a bufi'er to the 

 articulation. The removal of the frog or any part thereof, 

 will of necessity expose the joint more or less to every jar and 

 concussion arising from the action of the feet upon the ground, 

 I am of opinion that the predisposition of the fore feet to take 

 on ISTavicular Disease is greatly increased in consequence of the 



