AS TO SOUNDNESS. 
It is often concealed by being neatly plastered up and 
the feet greased; but such means do not hide it from 
a close view. When you lift the fore foot forward, 
and rest it on and above the opposite knee, you must 
invariably lift the fringe of hair overhanging the coronet, 
and you will find the beginning of the crack. No sand- 
crack can be overlooked, if looked for, however neatly 
‘‘doctored.’”” However slight—although there be no 
present lameness—the horse having one is unsound ; 
because it may get larger and deeper, and cause “dead” 
Jameness; and if not, it at least shows a hoof incapable 
of performing its functions and retaining its integrity. 
Seedy-toe has already been considered. 
Thrush is a disease in which a stinking morbid product 
wets the cleft of the horny frog, the result of degenerative 
changes in the fibro-fatty frog. It is sometimes due to 
-local causes; but far more frequently is it the local 
expression of grave constitutional defects. I daresay 
you will have heard or read of fistula in ano in human 
beings. The discharge in this case is by the side of the 
anus, from a large space (ischio-rectal fossa) filled with 
fat. Fistula in ano may have a local cause, such as an 
abscess ; but is very frequently indeed connected with 
constitutional derangement, and frequently accompanies 
pulmonary phthisis. Mr. Bryant, in his “Practice of 
Surgery,” says of it: ‘‘Of the causes of this disease 
little positive information can be given. The abscess, 
in the majority of cases, begins without any evident cause, 
and careful questioning generally fails in obtaining defi- 
