302 DISEASES OF THE HORSE'S FOOT 



date themselves to the altered conditions is, no doubt, the 

 reason that lameness in many of these cases is absent. 



Treatment. — It is doubtful whether anything satisfactory 

 can be recommended. When we have suspected this condi- 

 tion ourselves, it has been our practice to groove the hoof 

 on either side of the toe, after the manner illustrated in 

 Fig. 120, and, at the same time, point-firing the coronet 

 and applying a smart cantharides blister. Certainly, after 

 this operation, lameness has often disappeared — whether, 

 however, as a result of the treatment adopted or by reason 

 of the structures within accommodating themselves to the 

 condition, we would not care to say. 



Fig. 133. — Os Pedis showing the Groove in it caused by Atrophy 

 and Absorption induced by Pressure of a Keraphyllocele. 



Other writers advocate the removal of that portion of the 

 wall to which the tumor is attached, after the manner 

 described on p. 182, and illustrated in Fig. 98. This, how- 

 ever, should be a last resource, and should be adopted only 

 when weighty reasons, such as excessive and otherwise in- 

 curable lameness, appear to demand it. 



4. Keratoma. 



In our nomenclature the terms ' Keratoma ' and ' Kera- 

 phyllocele ' are both used to indicate the condition we have 

 just described. There are some, however, who reserve the 

 term * Keratoma ' for horny tumors occurring only on the 

 sole, and for that reason we draw special attention to the 



