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foundered we expect only to find the fore feet involved, 

 although in some instance the hind feet suffer from the ad- 

 ditional burden cast upon them. 



The Causes of Laminitis are various and easily under- 

 stood. In the first place we may state that young horses 

 newly brought from the country, where their feet are mostly 

 in contact with cool clay, these when taken into cities are 

 put to severe work on the hard roads without any prepara- 

 tion, especially if the weather is hot. (Animals treated in 

 this way generally have an attack of acute laminitis). Exam- 

 ples of this sort are of everday occurrence. In the second 

 place, animals with high stamping action, such as trotting 

 horses, after battering their feet for several hours on such 

 material as the Belgian blocks with which our streets are 

 paved, are not unlikely to have an attack of this kind. 

 Stress and violence done to the feet by whatever method are 

 usually accompanied by overheating and exhausting of ani- 

 mals. When in this condition they are allowed to stand 

 exposed to cold or damp, or worse still, given long drinks of 

 cold water. When these things are permitted it is no won- 

 der that the delicate tissues within the hoof are the seat of 

 acute inflammation. In the third place, excessive feeding 

 or gorging on nutritious food, such as oats, especially in 

 young and plethoric animals, has often caused this disease. 

 The history of many of these cases is that animals breaks 

 loose at night, and eat to excess such grain as barley, rye, or 

 wheat, and the next morning are found with fever in the 

 feet. In the fourth instance, inflammation of the lungs or 

 bowels may change its seat and attack the feet; this is called 

 Metastasis. Hence we perceive that laminitis may have a 

 constitutional as well as a local cause operating to produce 

 the disease. In the fifth and last instance, it may follow 

 from standing for a great length of time on railroads or 

 steamboats, without a chance of lying down when the nerv- 

 ous system is exhausted, and it also follows attacks of rheu- 

 matism and of influenza. 



