THEIR PATHOLOGY, DIAGNOSIS, AND TREATMENT. 71 



not be taken ont, in wet weather especially, without first having the hoof 

 brushed over with it. Arising from the same causes as pumiced feet is 

 seedy toe, which will be dealt with in its order. See also Foot, Pumiced. 



Quittor is an excessively painful disease, and one the treatment of 

 which should be handed over to a qualified veterinary surgeon. It arises 

 from a suppurating corn, a prick in shoeing, or an internal injury produced 

 by a tread or blow on the coronet, which has set up inflammation, and gone 

 on to the destruction of healthy tissue and formation of pus or matter, 

 which can find no way of escape through the hard substances of the coronet 

 or the impervious hoof ; and nature, in her endeavour to throw off this 

 effete matter, makes sinuses or narrow channels in various directions to 

 that end. The result generally is great swelling of the coronet, with ex- 

 treme heat and intense pain, before the matter forces a way out. The 

 pipes or sinuses should be opened up to give free discharge of the matter ; 

 but as some will be deep seated, quittor is not a disease fit for home treat- 

 ment by the amateur, but should be entrusted to the professional man, 

 who is thoroughly acquainted with the anatomy of the horse's foot, and 

 accustomed to use the knife. If cases of lameness were not treated so 

 lightly as they often are when first observed there would be fewerinstances 

 of quittor. 



R. 



Rheumatism.— Horses frequently suffer from rheumatism, sometimes 

 in conjunction with influenza, but more often following that or some other 

 serious disease. The sudden lameness and halting action of horses caused 

 by rheumatism is often mistaken for strain or other injury, but the 

 shifting nature of the former soon reveals the truth, as the horse with 

 shoulder lameness one day may show the disease in the hip the next ; it flies 

 about from one leg to another. The secretion of synovia or joint oil is 

 increased by it, and there is often considerable swelling of the limb, with a 

 puffiness of the parts secreting joint oil. In acute rheumatism there is always 

 more or less fever, and the severe pain the animal suffers is shown by his short 

 jerky breathing, and the evident unwillingness to use the affected limb. 



The remedies mostly relied on in rheumatism are outward applications, 

 but in cases where fever exists a febrifuge drench or ball should be given. 

 Colchicum or meadow saffron is a favourite remedy, and the most likely 

 to prove successful ; it may be given in doses of one to two drachms of the 

 powdered corm combined with two drachms of powdered nitrate of potash. 

 The smaller dose may be administered night and morning in a mash. There 

 are numberless liniments and embrocations for the cure of rheumatism 

 made which are all more or less useful. The best I believe to be the lini- 



