HOOF - KOT. 859 



healthy foot it is as firm, sound, smooth and dry as the skia 

 between a man's fingers, which, indeed, it not a little 

 resembles, on a mere superficial inspection. It is equally 

 destitute of any appearance of redness, or of feverish heat. 



The first symptom of hoof- rot, uniformly, in my experi- 

 ence, is a disappearance of this smooth, dry, colorless 

 condition of the naked skin at the top of the cleft over the 

 heels, and ^f its coolness. It is a little moist, a. little red, 

 and the skin has a slightly chafed or eroded appearance — 

 sometimes being a very little corrugated, as if the parts had 

 been subjected to the action of moisture. And on placing the 

 fingers over the heels it ■wUl be found that the natural coolness 

 of the parts has given place to a degree of heat. The 

 inflammation thenceforth increases pretty rapidly. The part 

 first attacked becomes sore. The moisture — the ichorous 

 discharge — is increased. A raw ulcer of some extent is 

 soon established. It is extended down to the upper portion 

 of the inner walls of the hoof, giving them a whitened and 

 ulcerous appearance. Those thin waUs become disorganized, 

 and the ulceration penetrates between the fleshy sole and the 

 bottom of the hoof. On applying some force, or on shaving 

 away the horn, it will be found that the connection between 

 the horny and fleshy sole is severed, perhaps half way from 

 the heel to the toe, and half way from the inner to the outer 

 wall of the hoof. The hoof is thickened with great rapidity 

 at the heel by an unnatural deposition of horn. The crack or 

 cavity between it and the fleshy sole very soon exudes a 

 highly fetid matter, which begins to have a purulent appear- 

 ance. The extent of the separation increases by the 

 disorganization of the surrounding structures ; the ulceration 

 penetrates throughout the entire extent of the sole ; it begins 

 to form .sinuses in the body of the fleshy sole ; the purulent 

 discharge becomes more profuse ; the horny sole is gradually 

 disorganized, and finally the outer walls and points of the toes 

 alone remain. The fleshy sole is now a black, swollen mass 

 of corruption, of the texture of a sponge satu5:ated with 

 bloody pus, and every cavity is filled with crawling, squirming 

 maggots. The horny toe disappears; the thin, shortened 

 side walls merely adhere at the coronet ; they yield to the 

 disorganization; and nothing is left but a shapeless mass of 

 spongy ulcer and maggots. Attempts to cure the disease, the 

 state of the weather, and other incidental circumstances, cause 

 some variations from the above line of symptoms. When the 

 first attack occurs in hot weather, the progress of the malady 

 is much more rapid and violent. The fiy sometimes deposits 



