ACUTE LAMINITIS. 189 



Mr. K. Over, M.R.C.V.S., who has a large experience in foaling 

 cases, tells me that this form of the disease (parturient laminitis) 

 very rarely occurs, unless the foetal membranes (after-birth) have 

 been retained for at least twelve hours, especially in heavy breeds, 

 such as Shires; and that light mares bear retention better than 

 cart mares. Tisserant, who, in 1846, was the first to note this 

 particular form of laminitis, states that it generally occurs after 

 abortion, or after a difficult deliveiy. It is an extremely dan- 

 gerous variety of laminitis. 



5. Debilitating diseases, like influenza, particularly when they 

 weaken the action of the heart, predispose to laminitis. 



6. Undue weight being placed on one leg^ on account of its 

 fellow fore or hind leg being in a painful condition from injury 

 or disease. Professor W. Williams describes an interesting case 

 of a horse which had hurt his near hind leg. The foot of this 

 leg was wrongly left unshod, but shoes were put on the other 

 three feet, with the result that the off hind became violently 

 affected with laminitis, by reason of the extra weight thrown 

 on it. 



7. Undue weight of body as compared to the strength of the 

 feet predisposes an animal to this disease. Mr. Broad says : " 1 

 have known it to occur to fat horses which have been at grass for 

 months without having been haltered." 



8. Improper shoeing which relieves the sole (by the use of a 

 seated shoe) and frog (by cutting away the frog, and refraining 

 from lowering the heels) from pressure, predisposes an animal to 

 laminitis, by putting almost all the weight on the wall of the foot. 

 The pernicious effect of this method of shoeing is naturally greater 

 on hard roads than on soft ground. 



9. Corn. On two voyages to South Africa with remounts, of 

 which I was in veterinary charge, and on several voyages to and 

 from India and to Russia with private animals, I had ample oppor- 

 tunities of seeing that corn has a strongly predisposing influence 

 on the production of laminitis in idle horses. I found that hay 

 has no deleterious effect in this respect. Consequently, when horses 

 are taken long voyages by sea, they should have plenty of hay, but 

 little or no corn. Dr. Arthur Luff has shown in his book on gout, 

 that the mineral matter of fruit and green vegetables (among which 

 we must number hay, as it is dried grass), when taken into the 

 system as food, has a strong action in eliminating uric acid, the 

 retention of which in the body is the cause of gout (p. 524) ; but 

 that the mineral matter of grain has no such influence. It is 

 therefore reasonable to infer that the so-called " heating " effect 

 which com has on idle horses, is due to the accumulation, in their 

 systems, of waste and harmful products which the mineral matter 



