INFLAMMATION OF THE FOOT. 493 



to stand in the stable with his heels cold and wet, which neces- 

 sarily disposes them to inflammation and disease. 



In the first stage of grease, bran, or turnip, or carrot poultices 

 will be serviceable, with moderate physic. Then astringents 

 must be employed ; and the best are alum or sulphate of copper 

 in powder, mixed with several times the quantity of bole 

 Armenian, and sprinkled on the sores. These should be alter- 

 nated every three or four days. The grapy heels are a disgrace 

 to the stable in which they are found, and admit not of radical 

 cure. 



Splints are bony enlargements, generally on the inside of 

 the leg, arising from undue pressure on the inner splint-bone ; 

 and this is either caused b}^ the natural confonnation of the leg, 

 or violent blows on it. These excrescences will often gradually 

 disappear, or will yield to a simple operation, or to the applica- 

 tion of the hydriodate of potash or blister ointment. Sprains, if 

 neglected, occasionally become very serious evils. Rest, warm 

 fomentations, poultices, or, in bad cases, blistering, are the 

 usual remedies. Windgalls, if they are of considerable size, or 

 accompanied by much inflammation or lameness, will find in a 

 blister the most effectual remedy. Sprains of the fetlock de- 

 mand prompt and severe blistering ; nothing short of this will 

 produce a permanent cure. Sprains of the pastern and coffin- 

 joints demand still more prompt and decisive treatment. If 

 neglected, or inefficiently managed, the neighboring ligaments 

 will be involved, more extensive inflammation will be set up, 

 and bony matter, under the name of ring-bone, will spread over 

 the pasterns and cartilages of the foot. Firing alone will, in the 

 majority of cases, be efficient here. 



INFLAMMATION OF THE FoOT, OR ACUTE FOUNDER, In Speaking 



of the structure of the foot, the laminae, or fleshy plates on the 

 front and sides of the coffin-bone were described. From over- 

 exertion, or undue exposure to cold or wet, or sudden change 

 from cold to heat, inflammation of these laminse is apt to occur ; 

 and a dreadfully painful disease it is. It is easily detected by 

 the heat of the feet, and the torture which is produced by the 

 slightest touch of the hammer. The shoe must be removed, the 

 sole well pared out, plentiful bleeding from the toe had recourse 

 to, the foot well poulticed, and cooling medicines resorted to. 



