834 DISEASES AND THEIR TREATMENT. 



on. Keep them there for about an hour, then take them, out and 

 put them in warm poultices, composed of equal parts of slippery 

 elm bark and linseed meal. Be sure the poultices envelop the 

 whole hoof. Have a deep soft bed placed under the animal. Give 

 a purgative, which should be one-half of the ordinary dose, as su- 

 perpurgation is apt to follow otherwise. If Barbadoes aloes be the 

 agent employed, four drachms will be found sufficient. Give a dose 

 of aconite, say ten drops every twenty minutes, until the animal 

 has been thrown into a profuse perspiration. Cover him with 

 warm blankets. The poultices should be changed twice a day, and 

 after taking them off put the feet in water, as above recommended. 

 Continue this treatment for three or four days at least. Feed no 

 grain, simply bran mashes, vegetables, and hay. When shoeing 



FIG. 742. Position of the bones of the foot in a healthy condition. 



the animal, see that the shoes are wide-webbed, the hoof-surface 

 being convex, still leaving sufficient flat surface for the wall of the 

 hoof to rest comfortably on. If it is a valuable beast, have him 

 turned out on low land pasture in about two weeks after the com- 

 mencement of the attack. Should he be stabled, keep damp swabs 

 on while he is housed. This treatment is applicable to either acute 

 or sub-acute, which I have here treated as one disease, and which, 

 in fact, it is." 



DR. HAMILL ADVISES 



If there is simply a congestion of the extremities and fever, 

 then treat as a fever locally and generally. Give as sedatives 

 aconite and nitre internally, with cooling applications locally to 

 the feet. If the inflammation is so extreme as to cause a de- 

 struction of the suspensory power of the laminee, then it is advis- 



