CORNS. 851 
the matter is rather grave, because it denotes the horse to have had, and 
not to have been free from, corns during the growth of the present sole. 
The new corn, as has been just intimated, consists of a portion of 
blood effused into the pores of the horn, and is of a bright-scarlet color. 
The size is of some consequence, as it best intimates the extent of the 
injury ; if the stain be small and deep seated, it is of least moment. 
The sappy corn is the consequence of a more gentle bruise, when serum 
and lymph only are effused—the horn being thereby merely rendered 
moist, not discolored. This species of corn is not very common, and by 
proper shoeing is readily removed. 
The suppurating corn is the worst of all; it engenders heat in the 
foot, and causes excessive lameness; it creates all that anguish, a shad- 
owy taste of which the human being endures when pus is confined beneath 
the substance of the finger-nail. The foot cannot be put to the ground; 
the arteries of the pastern throb forcibly; the countenance is dejected ; 
and every symptom of acute suffering in a large body is exhibited. 
Corns, which in man are found on the lower members, in the horse 
are generally witnessed only upon the fore feet. The writer bas rarely 
seen an instance of their presence behind; but in whichever foot they 
appear, they must be the production of an instant, though, probably, 
the suppurative may be an exception; yet from these always being sud- 
denly observed, even this species are said to be of instantaneous origin. 
A horse, when progressing, makes a false step; a sanguineous or sappy 
corn is by that faulty action established. The same horse may trot 
home perfectly sound, and be put into the stable for the night a healthy 
animal; but on the following morning it may be discovered standing on 
three legs. Pus may, in the interval, have been secreted, and the corn 
may have assumed the suppurative character. 
The manner to examine for corn:is, in the first place, to mark the age 
of the horse; then observe if, in the trot, 
either leg is favored. The animal being 
young, splint is the common cause of un- 
even action; if old, corns are more gener- 
ally expected; the horse is brought to a 
stand and the smith sent for. The man 
raises the fore foot, and, taking a portion 
of crust and sole between the teeth of the 
pincers, gradually increases the pressure; uly 
he thus proceeds till he has by successive 7H Sol OF THE Honss’s Foor BEING 
trials squeezed the sole all round. If the 
leg, while undergoing the operation, be withdrawn near either of the 
nails, the ideas take a different direction to that of corn; but if the foot 
