'1G DISEASES OF THE FOOT. [BOOK III. 



CHAPTER V. 



Diseases of the Foot. 



When these cannot be traced distinctly to any 

 specific cause, they are fairly attributable to ailment 

 of the whole system dropping into the legs, and 

 "fever in the feet" is decidedly so, in our opinion, 

 when both feet are so afflicted. Therefore it was 

 that we noticed this disease along with " strain of 

 the tendons," to which we attribute its origin, as 

 much as to other causes of general heat of the foot. 

 Indeed the whole structure of the foot of the horse 

 is so peculiarly curious that it almost deserves a 

 separate study ; but we must always keep in mind, 

 whilst considering its ailments, that the great irri- 

 tation kept up by its extreme action is readily com- 

 municable from the one to the other, so that we 

 cannot intelligibly separate the leg from the foot, 

 when speaking of the ailments of either, notwith- 

 standing we have thought proper to begin this third 

 book with the disorders that are situated higher up, 

 and mean to close it with such as only make their 

 appearance below. 



But there remains still another distinction that 

 may as well be drawn here, before we enter into 

 other particulars, as to fore foot and hind foot. 

 In all the little dissertations which we have ven- 



