536 FOUNDER, NOTIONS AS TO ITS [BOOK III. 



by all writers and talkers upon the subject. Out 

 of this dilemma we do not at present attempt to 

 rescue it: we care not for terms, unless insomuch 

 as they can assist us to unravel the character of a 

 disorder. Contracted heel is the slow cause of 

 most cases of founder, whereby the quarters press 

 on the coffin and shuttle-bone, and thus prevent 

 the action of the latter, which is very great at every 

 step, and is thereby mainly conducive to the proper 

 secretion of the horny material before spoken of 

 pretty much at large. To " a chill" is generally 

 attributed the immediate cause of founder; and 

 indeed the poor animal which has suffered severely 

 at the hands (or spurs) of his master is most open 

 to acquire any ill which chill or cold may inflict. 

 When this chill takes place, the attack is sudden 

 and usually violent ; but is oftener attributable to 

 the compression of the wall upon its contents, or 

 the assumption of crookedness, or twist at any part. 

 This constitutes the slow attack, and appears at the 

 toe where the wall and sole join. 



Inflammation always attends the first symptom 

 of founder, if it be not an immediate cause thereof, 

 arising, we have no doubt, from the waste or de- 

 struction of the secretion marked (c) (c) in- the cut 

 at page 443. To this conclusion we come the 

 more positively, by reason of the absence of those 

 secretory vessels in the feet of old, foundered or 

 otherwise diseased horses ; which secretions were 

 designed to furnish the material for forming new 

 horn and giving elasticity to the tread. 



