ACUTE LAMINITIS. 369 
this is attributed to the effects of exhaustion. The creature reaches the 
stable; the surface of the body is rubbed over; the manger and the rack 
are filled; a fresh bed is quickly shaken down, for, in the opinion of 
grooms, quiet does horses extreme good. The animal is left for the 
night, under the impression that it has everything one of the race could 
require. 
The next morning the horse is found all of a heap, and the food un- 
touched; the flesh is quivering; the eyes are glaring; the nostrils are 
distended, and the breath is jerking. The flanks are tucked up, the 
back is roached, the head is erect, and the mouth is firmly closed; the 
hind legs are advanced, to take the bearing from the inflamed fore mem- 
bers; the front feet are pushed forward, so as to receive the least pos- 
sible amount of weight, and that upon the heels; but the fect thus placed 
are constantly on the move. Now, one leg is slightly bent; then, that 
is down and the other is raised; the horse is, according to a vulgar 
phrase, ‘‘dancing on hot irons.” 
The first indications—food untouched, glaring eyes, etc.—represent 
only excessive agony; the position of the body is symptomatic. The 
hind feet are thrust under the 
body in order to take the weight 
from the front, or the diseased 
organs; the fore feet are thrust 
forward and the head held erect, 
that the inflamed parts may be 
as much as possible beyond the 
center of gravity. In this atti- 
tude the wretched quadruped 
will stand, its sides heaving and 
its flesh creeping with the pain 
within the hoofs, and with the 
fire that burns within the blood. 
The teeth are occasionally heard 
to grind against each other; ex- 
pressive sounds sometimes issue from the throat, and partial perspirations 
burst forth upon the body; it is a horrible picture of the largest agony! 
The fore feet are mostly the seat of the disorder; all four may be in- 
volved, but the author has only witnessed the two front affected. The 
implication of the others are rather recorded wonders than general facts. 
The writer, in his professional experience, has met no one to whom a 
case of laminitis involving all four hoofs has been submitted. 
Everything concerning laminitis is in confusion. It is not yet author- 
itatively ascertained whether horses lie down or stand up—whether the 
24 
patio 
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ae 
NL IE bP e 
ACUTE LAMINITIS, OR FEVER IN THE FEET, 
