PATHOLOGICAL CONDITIONS OF FEET. 823 



The subject was a grey mare of high courage and breeding, be- 

 longing to Mr. James Stewart, cab -proprietor at Edinburgh. The 

 mare had been, for an unascertained length of time, lame of both 

 fore feet, when she was bought for a trifle by Mr. Stewart, who 

 thereupon took her to the New Veterinary College shoeing-forge, 

 to get her shod. This happened in the autumn 1858. I had 

 charge of the shoeing; that is, did the chief part of the work in 

 this as in similar cases prepared the feet and fitted the shoes. 

 Mr. Stewart, being then a beginner in business, and driving the 

 mare himself, procured abundance of work, so that in the space of 

 seventeen days she wore out a strong set of shoes, and was brought 

 back to the forge to be re-shod, which was done as before. At the 

 expiration of about the same number of days as before, the mare 

 was brought to be shod again for the third time; and this time the 

 intelligent owner was elated at the way his mare was going, and 

 at the manifest improvement that had taken place, notwithstanding 

 the inordinate amount of work the animal was doing, in drawing a 

 four-wheeled carriage over the hilly streets of Edinburgh. I may 

 state that the progressive improvement in the action of the mare 

 went on up to recovery to the extent of complete freedom from 

 lameness. There was no delay in the effect following the cause, or 

 rather, inversely, of effects ceasing when the causes that produced 

 and kept them up were removed. The result was so much the 

 more gratifying to the owner of the mare and all concerned, from 

 the fact that she proved to be one of the best animals of her class 

 in Edinburgh, and continued to work uninterruptedly for three 

 years, thereby helping in no small degree to give the worthy owner 

 a start in business. 



I shall not dwell on the termination of the mare's career, beyond 

 stating that during the severe frost in 1862 she encountered an 

 accident by falling on the frozen snow which encumbered the 

 streets of Edinburgh that winter. One of the bones of the knee, 

 the os magnum, was fractured transversely through its narrow 

 axis, and the animal was consequently destroyed. 



On dissecting both the fore feet, it was found that their condi- 

 tion was nearly the same; the degree of ulceration of the navicular 

 bone, and diminution, with subsequent incrustation of the coffin- 

 bone, was a little in excess in the specimen from which the illustra- 

 tion was drawn. But most remarkable and instructive of all was 

 the obviously improved state of those ulcerated bones that had 

 taken place. As was seen by the mare's action, her feet revolved, 

 if not fully, at least fairly upon the ground, and that was quite 

 manifest by the appearance of the joints. The cartilage lining the 

 navicular bone, Jess the breaches on the surface, was smooth and 

 white, and the synovial capsule healthy, and in full secreting func- 

 tion. In fact, the joint was amply lubricated and free. 



In anticipation of reasonable inquiries as to how the good result 

 was brought about in this ease, I answer, By shoeing. What 

 principle or mode of shoeing? Eational method, elaborated after 

 long individual experience, founded on observation, and on the ex- 



