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thirteenth day, the owner turned the animal out to grass, against orders. 

 On the following day, he came announcing that the animal had got 

 stringhalt. This w^e found was simply laminitis, now developing in the hind 

 feet. The animal was brought up from grass, and the hind feet were 

 poulticed until the seventeenth day, by which time he was much better. On 

 the eighteenth day, the owner again turned out the animal, thinking 

 him to be suffering from stringhalt, and refusing to believe it 

 was laminitis. He was told that the soles of the feet would come down,, 

 but this advice was unheeded. In about a fortnight the animal was worse. 

 We went to see him out at grass, and found that the coffin-bone had 

 appeared through the horny sole of the foot. We thereupon recommended 

 carbolised dressings to be fixed on the feet with leathern boots. Two 

 months afterwards the animal had so far recovered, that he was sold to a 

 gentleman for slow work. The horse now works very well on the land. 

 This case, of course, was a very severe one, and we mention it to show 

 some practical points which it may be useful to know. 



We have met with several cases where the soles have come completely 

 down, and the animals have afterwards so far recovered as to be able to 

 work. One, which occurred at an hotel in Louth, was an^ery similar case to 

 the above-mentioned one, and extended over a period of three weeks and a 

 few days. This animal was for many days at the point of death, and not 

 only suffered severely in all four feet, but, in addition, had extensive lung 

 disease. 



The acute symptoms described are not invariably present even in bad 

 cases. Early last year I was called to a bad case of laminitis, affecting the 

 hind feet in a grey twelve-year old hunter. Although in this instance the 

 constitutional symptoms were not severe, yet throughout the disease, they 

 were very persistent. The bones were so extensively diseased in this 

 animal, that there was no prospect of his being able to hunt again, and he 

 was therefore humanely slaughtered. 



Cases of acute laminitis, when the constitutional symptoms are fairly 

 severe, are of frequent occurrence among heavy draught horses. 



Subacute laminitis is also of frequent occurrence, but is not so sudden 

 in its appearance, or so rapid in its progress as the acute form. The gait of 

 the animal is stiff and " gi'oggy," but the general disturbance is not severe. 

 Like the acute form, this also may lead to chronic laminitis. 



Lastly, we turn to the consideration of chronic laminitis, or pumiced 

 foot. This affection may be the sequel of either acute or subacute laminitis, 

 and never has any other origin. 



The disease consists in the union between the sensitive or vascular 

 laminae, which form the horny structure of the foot becoming detached from 

 the hoof. The coffin bone, pressed down by the exudation poured out by 

 the inflammatory action, and losing its ties of suspension, sinks down upon 

 the horny sole. It must be remembered that a horse may have a very flat 

 sole, without necessarily having a pumiced foot. 



We were once called to a cart-horse which had been going lame in both 



