282 



r^EW ENGLAND FAllMER. 



March 28, 182S. 



proportion ol Dur vest horses to a life of compara- 

 iive uselessuess, and of excruciating misery. 



1. Tliej had a vague idea tliat it was connect- 

 ed with the horse's standing on litter in the sta- 

 ble. U this generally produced any real evil to 

 the horse, it would be trom the unnatur.il heat in 

 the foot, and the dryness and consequent coiitrac- 

 tionof the horn occasioned by the absence of the 

 dampness of tiie earth, the heat of ttie litter, and 

 the increased heat of the foot within. The great- 

 est objection to this explanation is that the con 

 iraction itself appears to be but slightly coiinect- 

 3d with the above causes, for the horse's hoofs, if 

 he is kept shod, will contract nearly, or quite as 

 fast, at grass as in the stable. 



2 They then lu untained that it probably arose 



actly resembling a very small sliuttle. It is called 

 the shuttle-bone, or from its resemblance to the 

 shape of a boat, the navicular bono. The outer 

 side of the crescent lies backwards and down- 

 wards, and has a lidge in the centre of its surface. 

 It is articulated both with coronet-bone and with 

 the cotBn bone. Its especial office is to form an 

 additional pulley for the back-sinew ; which pass- ! 

 es over its convex side, and is kept in its proper 

 phice upon it, by a groove corresponding to the 

 ri"i.'e upon the bone. A bursa mucosa, or sac con- 

 taining and secreting the sinovia or joint-oil, is 

 inierposed between the back-*inew and the bone; 

 no way difTeiing, 1 take it, in office or liability to 

 disease from the bursiE mucoss in other parts of 

 the horse's frame. All the weight wliich the horse 



from the frog's not receiving pressure, and that throws upon the leg is of course received by the 

 'he very object of the frog was to prevent contrac- ; coronet-bone, which, being articulated with the 

 lion by mechanical force. They shod the horse offin-bone, which when the hoof is placed upon 

 with a shoi; lowpr at the heel than the toe, and the ground cs'. have no motion but that allowed 

 witli artificial frogs ; broke down multitudes ; found i by the curtilages and the laminE at its sidi'S, sinks 



the hoof contract as mucii as before ; and have at 

 last, I believe, discarded the practice without re- 

 .^ervation. 



3. A distinguished master of the subjt'ct then as- 

 cribed it, and with vastly uiore appearance of rea 

 son, to shoeing the horse at all. It certainly would 

 appear to be a treiuendous Irial of Nature's ability 

 to accoininodule herself to circumstances, to nail 

 an iron ring round a livinir and elastic organ ; and 

 one, wliich as tlie wall of the hoof grows at the 

 coronet, and is intended to be proportionably worn 

 off by the earth, must be continually attempting 

 to increase in size. Horses were never shod by 

 the Greeks and Romans, with any thing but leath 

 or, or \vith shoes, which were tii'd on merely when 

 ihe horse was at work : and nailing on shoes is 

 still totally unknown in most parts of the world 

 The contraction arising from this fixed ring, tho' 

 it may not ever bo the immediately exciting cause 

 of lameness, from the internal foot's in some de- 

 gree adapting itself to its diminished area, I my- 

 self believe to be a great predisposer to it. That 

 it cannot be the common cause, is evident from 

 ■he fact that horses are never lame in their hind 

 feet, be they ever so much contracted, and that 

 the lameness itself is as often to be found in hoofs 

 that are not perceptibly contracted at all, as in 

 hoofs excessively contracted: which last fact I 

 will demonstrate to any sceptical person, by exam- 

 ining the horses running in the co.-iches of any 

 road in Massachusetts. I wonder that the very 

 rible defender of the theory of foot-lameness's 

 arising from the modern system of shoeing, in- 

 stead of explaining it by the crowding of the sen- 

 sible foot, did not perceive that its far most dan 

 gerous action was, from the contracted area of the 

 back part of the foot, and the increased concavity 

 of the sole's interfering with the action of Ihevery 

 joint, the injury of which is now considered the 

 most frequent cause ot this dreadful disease. 



4. Tliey were finally compelled to own that con- 

 traction could not be the common cause; (so many 

 horses being struck with it, who had been never 

 shod before, upon their beinir first put to work, 

 might have been conclusive evidence to the con- 

 trary,) and have now generally supposed it to be a 

 disease, which may afflict a horse that is kept 

 standing upon tho earth all his life, and who is 

 never shod, provided he is expnscd to sprains and 

 concussion. At tho back of the coffin-bone, there 

 is a small bone, placed horizontally across the foot, 

 "xcepting that it is in the form of a crescent, ex- 



b .ckwards and downwards, from its joint with the 

 p:isten bone, directly upon the navicular bone. — 

 The navicular bone beinir articulated with the 

 coffin-bone, which is nearly motionless, receives 

 what weight is not thrown upon the coffin-bone, 

 and rolls backwards and downwards also upon the 

 back sinew. The back sinew being fast immedi- 

 ately almost below, and being perfectly inelastic, 

 ir the navicular bone cannot roll upon it, the joint, 

 ii' it may be called so, is destroyed. The weight 

 IS now transferred to the back-sinew, and is part- 

 ly received by the muscles into which it is insert- 

 ed above, and they share it with the elastic inter- 

 nal frog below the back-sinew, and the back part 

 of the foot generally ; all of which, if the horse has 

 never been shod, is highly elastic. As this joint 

 is the raost perpendicularly opposed to the resist- 

 ance of the earth of any joint in the horse's frame, 

 -nd as all the elasticity of the hack part of the 

 loot, which Natiire calculates upon, is neutralized 

 by the iron, and in fact its area much diminished 

 in general, disease of it would really seem to be 

 very often expected in a shod horse, exposed to 

 tiie concussion of fast work upon a hard road. — 

 That it seldom or never occurs in the hind feet is 

 ni.tural, when we consider that the weight thrown 

 upon them is comparatively trifling, and that the 

 resistance of the earth is not opposed to it per- 

 pendicularly, but in a very oblique direction. — 

 That fool-lameness generally arises immediately 

 from concussion, is almost proved from its never 

 oci'utring in the hind feet, which are also exposed 

 to strains : and that it generally arises from dis- 

 ease of tliis joint is supported by the fact of this 

 joint's being most exposed of any in the foot to 

 concussion in the fore feet. 



This joint, therefore, appears to be very much 

 exposed to inflammation from direct injury, or if 

 predisposr-d to it. it may appropriate to itself any 

 geueral inflammation of the foot, from whatever 

 cause. The first step of the disease is in the bur- 

 sa mucosa, orsac, between the bone and the back- 

 sinew ; ^lle second is a destruction of the smooth 

 surface, and a caries of the hone; a consequent 

 impediment to the roll of the bone upon the back- 

 sinew ; and in extreme cases, I take it, an ossified 

 unini: of them together. There can be no doubt 

 that ir every step of the disease, the least motion 

 of the 'oot, hut particularly work upon the road, 

 must occasion the horse a great degree of pain. — 

 As this chronic lameness in their fore feet is al- 

 most unknown in some breeds and in some fami- 



lies of horses, and is distressingly common in oth- 

 ers, and as we well know, that in mankind, not 

 only are hereditary taints very apt to show them- 

 selves in the joints generally, but we liave almost 

 as an established fact that the generally carious 

 teeth of civilized nations is in tact to be ascribed 

 to a superinduced frequency in their ancestors, I 

 must continue to believe that this disease, or a 

 strong predisposition to it, is very often heredi- 

 tary. 



The only approach to a relief of this disease, 

 that has yet been discovered, is the operation of 

 neurotomy ; or completely destroying all nervous 

 communication between the foot and the brain. 

 This entirely, of course, destroys the sensation of 

 the foot ; and enables the hor,-.e to go with con- 

 siderable freedom till the nerves reunite ; hut it 

 can have no effect upon the disease, but to facili- 

 tate its progress by making the horse use his foot 

 more roughly than he would ot crwise have done, 

 and I cannot conceive how it i,- possible that any 

 cure ever should be discovered for it, after it has 

 passed the first stage and affiscted the surface of 

 the bone. However, I should like to see the opin- 

 ions of gentlemen of infinitely longer experience 

 in horse flesh and more inlimate acquaintance with 

 the principles of anatomy and the resources of the 

 surgical art. Yours, &c. 



JOHN LANQDON ELWYN 



■■ FOR THE NLW ENGLAND FARMER. 



DISEASE IN HORSES. 



Ktnnebunkporl, March If, 182S. 

 JMu. Pessenden, — Will you or some' other gen- 

 tleman, inform me (through your, paper) which is 

 the best method to be pursued, ai. ' th.'! best mode 

 of treatment l<jr a horse that is severely purged. 

 A neighbor of niine has had a very valuable horse 

 sick with this disease for about si.\. weeks — falls 

 away very fast, and is afraid of losing him, unless 

 some remedy can be applied to relieve him. The 

 day previous to liis beintr taKen, he was fed with 

 corn, and rode about twent miles. When he is 

 kept still in the stable for one or two days, he be- 

 comes apparently well ; but as soon as he is rode, 

 the complaint returns. An immediate attention to 

 tho above, will confer a favor. 



Respectfully yours, 



J. N. LANG;DON. 



rOR THE NEW ENGLAND FAKJIEH. 



GRAFTING. 



Hampden, March II, 1828. 



Mr Fessenden, — I sen.l yon several samples of 

 grafting by a process which I hive not seen de- 

 scribed, and therefore suppose may, possibly, be 

 new to you. 



I have had my grafiing done in this way, fortlie 

 last two years, by J\Ir. William T. Full from Eng- 

 land, and am fully convinced of its superiority over 

 all other methods I have ever seen. The stocks 

 are not exposed to the admission of water to the 

 pith, as in cleft grafting. The scion cannot be 

 easily displaced, and is in no danner of being bro- 

 ken ofl" by violent ivinds. The scion and stock 

 come in contact at four distinct points, and the 

 chances of success are increased almost to certain- 

 ty. The healing process commences immediate- 

 ly, and, in nursery grafting, is entirely perfected 

 in about six weeks. 



The only points which occur to me as requiring 

 particular attention are : that if in raising the 



