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in the fore feet. While any part of the coronet may become the seat of 

 attacli, the heels and quarters are undoubtedly most liable. 



Causes.— Bvmsen and other wounds of the coronet are often the cause 

 of cutaneous quittor, yet there can be no question but that in the great 

 majority of these cases the disease develops without any known cause. 

 For some reason, not yet satisfactorily explained, most cases happen in 

 the fall of the year. One explanation of this fact has been attempted 

 in the statement that the disease is due to the injurious action of cold 

 and mud. This claim, however, seems to lose force when it is remem- 

 bered that in many parts of this country the most mud, accompanied 

 by freezing and thawing weather, is seen in the early springtime with- 

 out a corresponding increase of quittor. Furthermore, the serious out- 

 breaks of this disease in the mountainous regions of Colorado, Wyo- 

 ming, and Montana are seen in the fall and winter seasons, when the 

 weather is the driest. It may be claimed, and i^erhaps with justice, 

 that during these seasons, when the water is low, animals are compelled 

 to wade through more mud to drink from lakes and pools than is neces- 

 sary at other seasons of the year, when these lakes and pools are full. 

 Add to these conditions the further fact that much of this mud is im- 

 pregnated with alkaline salts, which, like the mineral substances always 

 found in the mud of cities, are more or less irritating, and it seems fair 

 to conclude that under certain circumstances mud may become an im- 

 portant factor in the production of quittor.* 



While this disease at times attacks any and all classes of horses, it is 

 the large, common breeds, with thick skins, heavy coats, and coarse 

 legs that are most often affected. Horses well groomed and cared for 

 in stables seem to be less liable to the disease than those running at 

 large or than those which are kept and worked under adverse circum- 

 stances. 



Sijm2)toms. — Lameness, lasting from one to three or four days, nearly 

 always precedes the development of the strictly local evidences of 

 quittor. The next sign is the appearance of a small, tense, hot, and 

 painful tumor in the skin of the coronary region. If the skin of the 

 afi'ected foot is white the inflamed portion will present a dark red or 

 even a purplish appearance near the center. Within a few hours' time 



*A recent outbreak of quittor near Cheyenne, Wyo., wbicli came under the author's 

 observation, ^Tas caused by the mud through -which the horses had to wado to reach 

 the watering troughs. These troughs were furnished with water by windmills, and 

 the mud-holes were caused by the wastewater. More than tifty cases developed in- 

 side of two mouths' time or during September and October. Among these fifty cases 

 all forms of the disease and all possible complications were i^resented. During the 

 rainy season at Leadville, Colo., outbreaks of quittor are common, and the disease is 

 so virulent that it has long been known as the " Leadville foot-rot." The soil being 

 rich in mineral matters is no doubt the cause of the outbreaks. In the city of Mon- 

 treal quittor is said to be very common in the early springtime, when the streeis are 

 muddy from the melting of the snow and ice. 

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