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and places it again upon the ground in walking indicates un- 

 mistakably the precise seat of the trouble. This peculiar man- 

 ner always reminds me of Stringhalt, it is so very similar to the 

 peculiar jerk in the latter complaint. 



I have in former years had much trouble with such cases, 

 and have known some to become absolutely incurable. 



Pressure from contraction of the hoof can be excited around 

 its superior circumferent margin upon this very same tendon 

 of the extensor pedis of the hind leg. Too much growth of 

 horn at the toe from keeping the shoes on too long would also 

 produce pressure against the Extensor tendon, and pinch or 

 press it against the Superior process of the pedal bone just at 

 the point of its insertion into that bone. I have been called 

 to examine cases of inscrutable lameness where half a dozen 

 veterinary surgeons had located the source of the lameness in 

 as many different places, but when I had located the possible 

 source of the lameness in the instep, at the very part I have 

 indicated, and after lowering and shortening the toe, elevating 

 the heel, and softening and expanding the hoof, the lameness 

 has all disappeared in two or three days. 



Swinging aroufid the circle, as I have done, I have lost the run 

 of my Stringhalt cases, and, therefore, I cannot say if after the 

 lapse of time any of them were permanently benefitted or were 

 susceptible of absolute cure. Here is a case probably, like 

 some others, that falsify the notion, that when causes are re- 

 moved the effects will cease. Habit, we all know, becomes a 

 second nature, and I deem it likely that the habit of jerking up 

 the leg in action has become of too fixed a nature to be entirely 

 removed even after the original active cause has ceased to 

 operate. 



THE WRITER'S SUGGESTION. 



Adopting this view, it is easy to conceive that, supposing 

 pressure upon the nerve-filaments of the foot to have produced 

 Stringhalt, and after it had existed for years, when that pres- 

 sure has been removed, that habit has much to do with the 

 continuance of the irregular action ; in this manner I regard 



