302 DISEASES OF THE HORSE’S FOOT 
date themselves to the altered conditions is, no doubt, the 
reason that lameness in many of these cases is absent. 
Treatment.—It is doubtful whether anything satisfactory 
can be recommended. When we have suspected this condi- 
tion ourselves, it has been our practice to groove the hoof 
on either side of the toe, after the manner illustrated in 
Fig. 120, and, at the same time, point-firing the coronet 
and applying a smart cantharides blister. Certainly, after 
this operation, lameness has often disappeared—whether, 
however, as a result of the treatment adopted or by reason 
of the structures within accommodating themselves to the 
condition, we would not care to say. 
Fie. 133.—Os PEDIs sHOWING THE GROOVE IN IT CAUSED BY ATROPHY 
AND ABSORPTION INDUCED BY PRESSURE OF A KERAPHYLLOCELE. 
Other writers advocate the removal of that portion of the 
wall to which the tumour is attached, after the manner 
described on p. 182, and illustrated in Fig. 98. This, how- 
ever, should be a last resource, and should be adopted only 
when weighty reasons, such as excessive and otherwise in- 
curable lameness, appear to demand it. 
4, KERATOMA. 
In our nomenclature the terms ‘Keratoma’ and ‘ Kera- 
phyllocele’ are both used to indicate the condition we have 
just described. There are some, however, who reserve the 
term ‘ Keratoma’ for horny tumours occurring only on the 
sole, and for that reason we draw special attention to the 
