DISEASES OF THE FETLOCK, ANKLE, AND FOOT. 421 



dry box. The dressings are to be changed daily or even twice a 

 day at first. When they are removed, all pieces of new homy mat- 

 ter which are now firmly adherent must be rubbed off with the fin- 

 ger or a tent of oakum. As the secretion diminishes, dry powders, 

 such as calomel, sulphates of iron, copper, etc., may prove of most 

 advantage. The sulphates should not be used pure, but are to be 

 mixed with powdered animal charcoal in the proportion of one of 

 the former to eight or ten of the latter. When the soft tissues are 

 all horned over, the dressings should be continued for a time, weak 

 solutions being used to prevent a recurrence of the disease. If the 

 patient is run down in condition, bitter tonics, such as gentian, 

 may be given in 2-dram doses twice a day and a liberal diet of 

 grain allowed. 



CORNS. 



A corn is an injury to the living horn of the foot, involving the 

 soft tissues beneath, whereby the capillary blood vessels are ruptured 

 and a small quantity of blood escapes which, by permeating the horn 

 in the immediate neighborhood, stains it a dark color. If the injury 

 is continuously repeated, the horn becomes altered in character and 

 the soft tissues may suppurate or a horny tumor develop. Corns- 

 always appear in the sole in the angle between the bar and the 

 outside wall of the hoof. In many cases the laminae of the bar, of 

 the wall, or of both, are involved at the same time. 



Three kinds of corns are commonly recognized — the dry, the moist, 

 and the suppurative — a division based solely on the character of the 

 conditions which follow the primary injury. 



The fore feet are almost exclusively the subjects of the disease, for 

 two reasons : First, because they support a greater part of the body ; 

 secondly, because the heel of the fore foot during progression is first 

 placed upon the ground, whereby it receives much more concussion 

 than the heel of the hind foot, in which the toe first striites the 

 ground. 



Causes. — It may be said that all feet are exposed to corns, and that 

 even the best feet may suffer from them when conditions necessary to 

 the production of the peculiar injury are present. The heavier 

 breeds of horses generally used for heavy work on rough roads and 

 streets seem to be most liable to this trouble. Mules rarely have 

 corns. 



Among the causes and conditions which predispose to corns may 

 be named high heels, which change the natural relative position of 

 the bones of the foot and thereby increase the concussion to Avhich 

 these parts are subject; contracted heels, which in part destroy the 

 elasticity of the foot, increase the pressure upon the soft tissues of 

 the heel, and render lacerations more easy; long feet, which by 

 removing the frog and heels too far from the ground deprive them 



