DISEASES OF THE JOINTS 445 



sceptical. The treatment has been constantly practised and 

 advised, however, and we feel bound to give it mention here. 

 A smart blister ma}^ therefore, be applied to the whole of the 

 coronet, and need not be prevented from running into the 

 hollow of the heel. 



Instead of blistering the coronet (or in conjunction with 

 that treatment), the counter-irritant may be applied by 

 passing a seton through the plantar cushion or fibro-fatty 

 frog. Setoning the frog appears to have been introduced 

 by Sewell. In many cases great benefit is claimed to have 

 been derived from it, especially by English veterinarians of 

 Sewell's time, and by others on the Continent. Percival, 

 however, was not an advocate for it, and, at the present 

 day, it is a practice which appears to have dropped out of 

 use altogether. 



Fig. 164. — Frog Seton Needle. 



To perform this operation a seton needle of a curved 

 pattern is needed (see Fig. 1G4). This is threaded with 

 a piece of stout tape dressed with a cantharides, hellebore, 

 or other blistering ointment, and then passed in at the 

 hollow of the heel, emerging at the point of the frog. The 

 course the needle should take will be understood from a 

 reference to Fig. 165. 



The seton may be passed with the horse in the standing 

 position. Previously the point of the frog should be thinned, 

 and the animal should be twitched. After-treatment consists 

 simply in moving the seton daily, and dressing it occasion- 

 ally with any stimulating ointment, or with turpentine. 



If, in spite of these treatments, the disease persists, then 

 nothing remains but neurectomy. 



