818 



DISEASES AND THEIE TKEATMENT. 



All the subjects which supplied the specimens illustrated were 

 selected on account of indications which led me to investigate them. 



When I first saw this animal after death, my whole "mind was 

 absorbed in the case, and it would have been of no use if I had only 

 detached the foot, strictly so called, for examination. "When trying 

 to make out anything natural or unnatural about the foot, I always 

 take a great part of the limb, so as to include the whole carpal 

 region; and if a hind limb, then of the tarsal region. In this in- 

 stance I divided the radius a little above the knee. I had per- 

 ceived, in the condition of the leg, a rigidity induced by thickness 

 and hardness of all the flexing apparatus of the foot, especially 



FIG. 724. 



from the fetlock-joint to the knee; the back sinews were as thick 

 as the fore-arm of a man, and to the touch felt hard like a cable. I 

 shall refrain from entering into a detailed description of the condi- 

 tion of these parts, my object being now to show plainly how one 

 may be drawn off the scent, and led to mistake an after-effect for 

 the original state of the case an effect for a cause. I knew that 

 the massive, hard bands were but symptoms of serious conditions 

 below; that it was a coiling of these bands, with the design of 

 shortening their track, by which the range of bones could be held 

 firm, and in a vertical line. With such notions I proceeded to dis- 

 sect the limb, first by disarticulatiori at the pastern-joint, and 

 placing the foot in the maceration-tub for six weeks; meanwhile I 

 dissected the parts above, confirming my views of the conditions, 

 and greatly extending my knowledge. In due time, the hoof be- 

 coming detached, I dissected the foot, with the result shown in Fig. 



