394 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 



First, then, clean the foot with warm baths and apply a poultice 

 containing powdered charcoal or carbolic acid. A handful of the 

 charcoal or a tablespoonful of the acid mixed with the poultice serves 

 to destroy much of the offensive odor. The diseased portions of 

 horn are to be carefully removed with sharp instruments, until only 

 healthy horn borders the affected parts. The edges of the sound horn 

 are to be pared thin, so that the swollen soft tissues may not overlap 

 their borders. With sharp scissors cut off all the prominent points on 

 the soft tissues, shorten the walls of the foot, and nail on a broad, 

 plain shoe. The foot is now ready for the dressings, and any of the 

 many stimulating and drying remedies may be used; but it will be 

 necessary to change frequently from one to another, until finally all 

 may be tried. 



The list from which a selection may be made comprises wood tar, 

 gas tar, petroleum, creosote, phenic acid; sulphates of iron, copper, 

 and zinc; chloride of zinc, bichloride of mercury, calomel, caustic 

 soda, nitrate of silver, chloride of lime ; carbolic, nitric, and sulphuric 

 acids. 



In practice I prefer to give the newly shod foot a bath for an hour 

 or two in a solution of the sulphate of iron, made by adding 2 ounces 

 of the powdered sulphate to a gallon of cold water. When the foot 

 is removed it is dressed with oakum balls dipped in a mixture made 

 of Barbados tar 1 part, oil of turpentine 8 parts, to which is slowly 

 added 2 parts of sulphuric acid, and the mixture well stirred and 

 cooled. The diseased parts being well covered with the balls, a pad 

 of oakum, sufficiently thick to cause considerable pressure, is placed 

 over them, and all are held in place by pieces of heavy tin fitted to 

 slip under the shoe. The whole foot is now incased in a boot or 

 folded gunny sack, and the patient turned into a loose, dry box. The 

 dressings are to be changed daily or even twice a day, at first. 

 When they are removed, all pieces of new horny matter which are 

 now firmly adherent must be rubbed off with the finger or a tent of 

 oakum. As the secretion diminishes, dry powders may prove of most 

 advantage, such as calomel, sulphates of iron, copper, etc. The sul- 

 phates should not be used pure, but are to be mixed with powdered 

 animal charcoal in the proportion of one of the former to eight or ten 

 of the latter. When the soft tissues are all horned over, the dress- 

 ings should be continued for a time, weak solutions being used to 

 prevent a recurrence of the disease. If the patient is run down in 

 condition, bitter tonics, such as gentian, may be given in 2-dram doses, 

 twice a day, and a liberal diet of grain allowed. 



CORNS. 



A corn is an injury to the living horn of the foot, involving the 

 soft tissues beneath, whereby the capillary blood vessels are ruptured 

 and a small amount of blood escapes, which, by permeating the horn 



