226 DISEASES OF THE HORSE’S FOOT 
The time that an operation wound of this description 
takes to heal—and that without complication—is from one 
to two or three months. Continuation of pain and inten- 
sity of lameness are not to be taken as indications of 
failure. The reparative inflammation in the synovial 
membrane is quite sufficient to induce pain severe enough 
to prevent the animal from placing his foot to the ground 
for some weeks, even though the progress of the case, all 
unknown, may be all that is desired. So long as a great 
amount of pain is absent, and so long as appetite remains 
and swellings in the hollow of the heel fail to make their 
appearance, so long may the progress of the case be deemed 
satisfactory. 
Recorded Case of the Treatment.—A cart-horse, aged six 
years, was sent to the Alfort School by a veterinary surgeon 
for having picked up a nail in the hind-foot. Professor 
Cadiot, judging the necessity for the complete operation, 
performed it on January 14, and spared the plantar cushion 
as much as possible. In consequence of the plantar apo- 
neurosis being extensively necrosed, it was advisable to 
scrape the navicular bone and a part of the semilunar 
crest. The wound having been washed with a 1 per cent. 
solution of perchloride of mercury, it was dusted with iodo- 
form and packed with gauze, and covered with a cotton- 
wool dressing, kept in position by means of a suitable shoe. 
On January 16 there was no snatching up of the limb 
when the horse was made to put weight upon it; he ate 
his food well, and his condition improved every day. On 
January 21 the dressing was removed; the wound appeared 
pinky and granular, and there was no suppuration. The 
clot remaining from the hemorrhage after the operation 
was removed, the wound was irrigated with a hot solu- 
tion of sublimate, and then dusted with iodoform and 
covered with a dressing of iodoform gauze and absorbent 
wool. At this date the horse could stand on the injured 
limb. On January 31 a second dressing was made, and the 
animal almost walked sound. On February 7 the wound 
had almost. closed up, save in its central part, where there 
