806 DISEASES AND THEIB TREATMENT. 



side of the extremity of the bone, and one similar in kind, but less 

 extensive, exists on the retrorsal margin on the other side. Apart 

 from the lesions of hoof, soft structures, cartilage, and bone, atrophy 

 of the coffin and navicular bones, with deep excavation of the latter, 

 existed to the same extent in both fore feet. 



The termination of this case was extraordinary in its occurrence, 

 and more than justifies, it seems, a short digression from my sub- 

 ject; the termination was by sudden death. The incident which I 

 am about to narrate happened nine years ago. While in the per- 

 formance of my duty at the Edinburgh New Veterinary College, I 

 was called in haste by a groom to attend a horse that had acci- 

 dentally fallen in a street close by. I accompanied the man in- 



FIG. 707. 



stantly, and when we reached the stable found the horse lying 

 quite dead; only a few minutes had elapsed from the time the groom 

 left the horse standing in his stall, and only about twenty minutes 

 from the time the horse fell. The immediate occurrence, as related 

 by the man, happened thus: The horse, lame on both fore feet, was 

 being ridden by the groom, who was returning to the stable with a 

 sackful of forage placed before him on the horse's back. The ani- 

 mal, so encumbered, was being trotted on the pavement of a narrow 

 street, and the way he was going was on a decline. The horse 

 stumbled, and after making efforts to recover himself, fell, pitching 

 the man and sack over his head. The man escaped injury, but the 

 horse was with difficulty, and only by help, raised upon his feet, 

 and staggered into the stable, which was only a few yards distant. 

 An examination of the carcass revealed the cause of the almost 

 instant death that succeeded the fall of the horse. The midriff was 

 rent in its center, making an aperture so large that the stomach 



