DISEASES FEOM FAULTY CONFOEMATION 197 



the conformation of the animal does. A vicious predis- 

 posing conformation once there is there always, and 

 although the injury resulting from it may easily give way 

 to correct treatment, the same injury is bound to re-occur 

 when the animal is again put to work. 



Although with care suppurating corn, like other cases of 

 suppuration within the hoof, may yield to treatment, the 

 owner of the animal should, nevertheless, be warned that 

 the condition is a serious one, especially should the joint 

 become affected. It may so happen, as sometimes in fact 

 it does, that the animal may die as a result of the infective 

 fever so set up. From no surface in the body can absorp- 

 tion take place quicker than from the synovial membrane 

 of a joint. So soon, therefore, as this membrane comes in 

 contact with septic material, so soon does a severe septic 

 fever make its appearance. The septic matter has gained 

 the blood-stream, and the patient succumbs to septic 

 poisoning. 



Apart from death occurring naturally, the changes taking 

 place in the joint in the shape of bony growths or of actual 

 anchylosis may be so severe as to render the animal useless, 

 and slaughter may have to be advised. 



Treatment. — -We have already said that by far the most 

 active cause in the production of corn is the shoe. It 

 follows from this that it is to the shoeing we must largely 

 look for a successful means of their prevention, and that 

 the treatment of corn in its most simple form is really a 

 matter for the smith, and not for the veterinary surgeon. 



The faults in connection with the shoeing we have men- 

 tioned fully when treating of the causes of corn. From 

 those w'e learn that a shoe with a flat-bearing surface, or 

 one moderately seated but flat at the heels, is the correct 

 shoe for nearly all feet. The heels of the shoe should not 

 be too high, should not be too short, and should be wide 

 enough apart from each other to insure the wall of the foot 

 obtaining a fair share of the bearing. Finally, even with 

 the present method of shoeing, whenever it is possible to 

 allow the frog to come to the ground, it should be en- 



