PROGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF CANKER. 



401 



parts, the extent of the disease, the length of time it has 

 existed, the rapidity of its return after treatment, and the 

 number of feet affected. 



Treatment comprises the removal of all loose horn, and the 

 careful paring away and exposure of the diseased spot. For 

 this purpose a searcher, scalpel, and forceps are required. The 

 parts should be spared as much as possible and care taken that 

 the surface in which the sound and diseased parts meet exhibits 



Fig. 378. — Shoe prepared for canker dressing. 

 a, heels tapped and screwed ; b, depression 

 for talcing the tongue of the cover shown 

 in next fig. 



Fig. 379.— Cover for above shoe. 



no hard margins. Bleeding should, if possible, be avoided. 

 The paring, therefore, requires some skill. The parts are next 

 thoroughly cleansed with clean lint or tow, without using water, 

 and the dressing applied. All kinds of drugs have been tried, 

 some with good, some with bad results. Distinct granulations 

 should be removed by the use of mild caustics and tlie real 

 curative material (generally an astringent and disinfectant) 

 thereafter applied. Schleg recommends a mixture of sulphate 

 of copper, sulphate of iron, and pulverised tormentilla root in 

 the proportions of 1 : 2 : 3, or equal parts of salicylic acid and 

 pulverised tormentilla root. Professor Putz suggests nitrate of 

 lead. When the materials are used in the form of powder they 

 must be rubbed in. Finally all parts denuded of horn sliould be 

 subjected to moderate regular pressure by a surgical dressing, 

 or less preferably by means of a special shoe and cover (see 

 fig. 380). Wood wool or jute tampons are applied to the spot, 



2c 



