364 BOVINE PATHOLOGY. 



ing digits are connected together by certain interdigital 

 ligaments, and each bears a hoof resembling half the hoof 

 of the horse. Finally, behind the fetlocks are two rudi- 

 mentary claws, each with a contained bone, the os pedis 

 of a rudimentary digit. Thus, to sum up, the foot of the 

 ox consists of two functional digits united together 

 superiorly, which together represent the compound func- 

 tional digit of the horse, and two very rudimentary digits, 

 of which the outer has a splint bone, a hoof, and a pedal 

 bone, but the inner has no splint bone. In the hind 

 limb the arrangement of the bones is much the same, but 

 there are no distinct splint bones, and the hock consists of 

 a well- developed astragalus, which forms a well-marked 

 hinge-joint below, with a bone compounded of the large 

 cuneiform and the cuboid, and is freely movable on os 

 calcis, which has a long, rather slight process. The 

 cuneiforme medium is only of moderate size, and the 

 cuneiforme parvum is very small. The joint between the 

 upper and lower row of tarsal bones renders the hock 

 capable of a great degree of flexion. Diseases of the 

 foot in the ox are very rare, especially in this country, 

 for — 1st, its conformation is such as to render it less 

 liable to injury, as being more simple than that of the 

 horse ; 2nd, the ox is seldom used for draught purposes, 

 and never for conveying heavy weights for great dis- 

 tances along hard roads, nor for excessively rapid progres- 

 sion on the racecourse ; 3rd, but few cattle are shod. 



Foul, Loo, Low. — This term is applied, somewhat indefi- 

 nitely, to the formation of abscess in the foot and resulting 

 disorganisation of structure. This may be attributed either 

 to common causes or specific influences. The latter are 

 scrofulous and perhaps rheumatic conditions. Scrofulous 

 arthritis not unfrequently affects the bones and joints of 

 the foot, causing such disease of them as of other parts 

 of the skeleton. This disease may be caused by the 

 presence of foreign bodies fixed between the claws, giving 

 rise to inflammation, by overgrowth of the hoof-horn on 

 the inner side, by various kinds of injuries, and, among 

 others, certain sprains of the pastern, pedal joints, &c. 



