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Toe clips should be very small, or dispensed with altogether. The heels 

 of the shoe should be thickened. The " Thacker " shoes are strongly recom- 

 mended by some. We may here remark that large toe clips are not 

 uncommonly a cause of disease of the foot, and should never be used. 



Animals subject to navicular disease, require a cool bedding on a level 

 pavement, but nothing can serve the purpose better than sawdust, or a good 

 supply of straw. Animals, as a rule, will lie down in a quiet well-bedded 

 box more readily ; and, as the recumbent posture is to be encouraged at 

 night, it will be well to make the box as comfortable as possible. 



When these measures have been taken, there remain two operations 

 which have been devised for the cure of navicular disease, and of these we 

 shall say a few words. The first, frog-setoning, as represented in the second 

 of our illustrations, is said to have proved serviceable in some inveterate 

 cases, when all other measures had failed. The second operation for the 

 alleviation of navicular lameness is termed neurotomy. It was at one time 

 so highly thought of as to be very frequently performed. It consists in 

 removing a portion of nerve from both sides of the plantar nerves of each 

 fore limb. It is sometimes a very successful operation. It is, however, not 

 advisable to perform it except as a last resource^ when all oilier measures 

 have failed, and the animal is quite wjjit for ivorkj as, although it often 

 affords temporary relief, the nerves usually grow together again after a time,, 

 and the animal may become still more lame than before. In performing the 

 operation, it is usual to remove about one inch from the nerve of each side of 

 both fore limbs; but sometimes it is performed on one limbonly. Neurotomy was 

 supposed to have been first introduced by Mr. Sewell, but we have reason to 

 believe that the operation was practised some years earlier by Mr. Moorcroft. 



