CHAPTER XVIII. 



DISEASES OF THE FEET. 



PBELIMINART OBSERVATIONS ON SHOEINa — FOOT LAMENESS, DIVIDED 



INTO THEEB KINDS O-) DISEASES OP THE BONES AND CAR- 



TILAQES; (2,) DISEASES OP THE HORN-SECBETINQ STRUCTURES; 



(3.) ACCIDENTAL INJURIES DISEASE OF THE PYRAMID OF 03 



PEDIS — SIDE-BONES — NAVICULAR DISEASE, THEORIES OF CAUSES, 



PATHOLOGY, AND TREATMENT — NEUROTOMY, ITS FAVOURABLE AND 



UNFAVOURABLE EFFECTS GELATINOUS DEGENERATION OF THB 



HAVICOLAR BURSA — PATHOLOGICAL ANATOMY — COMPARISON TO 

 WHITE SWELLING. 



PRELIMINAET BEMABES ON 8H0EIN0. 



There is no subject that calla for more attention tlian tte 

 consideration of the feet of the horse. At the present 

 time, 80 great is the ignorance prevailing amongst owners, 

 shoers, and managers of horses, that the majority of lame- 

 nesses are found to arise from mismanagement of these 

 important parts of the animal frame. In the city of Edin- 

 burgh, above 60 per cent, of the horses engaged for all pur- 

 poses are lame, and above 80 per cent of such are lame in one 

 or both fore feet. In many English towns, especially in London, 

 the lame horses to be seen in the streets are very few compared 

 with those of Edinbui^h ; but even in the most favoured parts 

 of the kingdom the number is something enormous compared 

 with other countries ; and well might the late Professor Sewell 

 say that he had seen more lame horses between Dover and 

 London than during a sojourn of three months in France and 

 other continental countries. 



The writers upon the management of the horse's feet and upoft 

 shoeing are very numerous, embracing all classes of men, from 

 peers of the realm down to the groom and shoeing-smith; but 



