INFLAMMATORY AFFECTIONS 257 



The tenderness following upon excessive hammering in 

 the forge, or of too long an application of the shoe in hot- 

 fitting has also been described as laminitis. 



With either of the conditions we have mentioned,, it goes 

 without saying that there is either a simple congestion or 

 an actual inflammation, localized or general, of the laminae 

 of the injured foot. In neither case, however, can the 

 resulting mischief be closely compared with the lesions 

 attending an attack of laminitis proper, a disease which 

 appears to have an almost specific cause, and to run a 

 course peculiarly its own. 



The specific cause we have indicated as existing can, in 

 the present state of our knowledge, be only vaguely de- 

 scribed as a poisoned state of the blood-stream. This, as 

 clinical evidence teaches us, may result from a variety of 

 causes. 



Among these, by far the most common is that state of 

 the circulation induced by excessive feeding with too stimu- 

 lating or too irritating a diet. In any case, where the use 

 of old oats as a staple diet is departed from, and where the 

 quantity and manner of using the substitute is left to the 

 discretion of careless or unskilled attendants, trouble is 

 likely to ensue. The food more prone, perhaps, than any 

 other to bring about an attack is wheat improperly pre- 

 pared — that is, uncooked or unground. So much so is this 

 the case that one full meal of this provender to an animal 

 unused to it is sufficient to lead to a train of symptoms 

 often ending fatally. 



Beans, peas, barley, rye, new maize, or even new oats, 

 are all liable, if carelessly used, to have the same effect. 



It is the laminitis following feeding on new oats that has 

 caused us to apply to the food the adjective ' irritating.' 

 Here, more often than not, the peristaltic action of the 

 bowels is found to be abnormally in evidence, and the ex- 

 cessive use of the diet is always accompanied by a more or 

 less fluid discharge of the intestinal contents. 



In addition to the foods we have mentioned, many others 

 might be enumerated, more especially the numerous ' made- 



