824 



DISEASES AND THE1E TBEATMENT. 



perience of able men of all times and countries ; in other words, by 

 means which are only acquired by application of mind and hands 

 for years to the art. I used no differently made shoe for that mare 

 from those I use for other horses of her class doing the same work; 

 viz., shoes with calkins adapted to the pavement and hills of 

 Edinburgh; nor was there anything special in the way I fitted her 



shoes; they were adapted to the mo- 

 tion and requirement of the feet in the 

 mare's particular case, according to the 

 principles inculcated in this work. No 

 other agencies were used beyond the 

 ordinary measures I recommend for 

 the feet of all horses, to be hereafter 

 noticed. 



The two following and the last fig- 

 ures of the series are representations 

 of the different structures of the same 

 foot; a section of the hoof, and the 

 coifin and navicular bones of the off 

 fore foot of a horse, whose case I am 

 about to describe by the help of these 

 illustrations. 



The subject was a five-year-old Cly- 

 desdale stallion, for which a nobleman 

 in the west of Scotland paid 300, and 

 at whose instance, not many months 

 after the purchase, I was called to at- 

 tend the animal, not, however, until too 

 late for my services to be of any avail. 

 The horse died a few hours before 1 

 reached the place where he was, in 

 Ayrshire. With the splendid carcass 

 lying extended before me, I made in- 

 quiries into the history of the case, and 

 after receiving the necessary replies for 

 my purpose, and obtaining permission 

 to bring away the feet of the animal, 

 1 removed them and returned with 

 them to Edinburgh. The disease from which the horse had suf- 

 fered was inflammation of the feet, and death ensued through 

 long-continued irritant fever, ending in a blood-contaminated 

 system. 



Fig. 728 is that of the inner half of the hoof of the off fore foot; 

 the section, made longitudinally, passes through the middle of the 

 frog, sole, and wall. The bulging down of the sole and its thin 

 state are apparent; the white^spot represents an opening through 

 which an excrescence of the inflamed texture protruded. 



Fig. 729 represents the coffin arid navicular bones, upon the 

 latter of which no further remarks are necessary than to state that 

 that bone was found in perfect health. But to the coffin-bone and 



FIG. 728. 



