ACUTE LAMINITIS. 373 
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body of the sufferer. Persons who have lost a nail seldom have that 
substance renewed in all its original integrity. Deformity or an imper- 
THE SENSITIVE LAMINA AND CORONET DIVESTED THE SENSITIVE SOLE—FROG AND BARS DI- 
OF THEIR HORNY COVERING. VESTED OF THEIR HORNY COVERING. 
fect secretion is generally retained to mark the deprivation. Nature 
appears averse to the restoration of any of her original structures. 
Such a catastrophe is denominated sloughing of the hoof. After that 
has occurred it is useless to prolong the suffering by 
permitting the horse to live. Doubtless in time a sort 
of new hoof would be produced, but it would only be a 
deformity. It would want the toughness and strength 
of the original formation. 
Such was the hoof which used to succeed sloughing 
under the old plan of treatment; the author is happy 
to state he has not witnessed such a misfortune since — The new horny cover- 
he has followed the practice which he here recommends. feat oraua bores tire 
The suppuration just spoken of was not of the copious cee 
kind, but was a tardy secretion mingled with bloody “““ se 
serum; it is astonishing such a fact should not have warned veterinary 
surgeons against following depletive measures. ‘he effusion, however, 
of which the writer has next to speak is entirely the result of weakness. 
It does appear most strange that exhausting treatment should have been 
pursued as with infatuation, despite of so evident a warning. The parts 
which in health only secrete horn, during exhaustion throw out serum, or 
the thinner portion of the blood. This separates the coffin-bone from 
its attachments, while the imposed weight forces the loosened bone from 
its natural position. To make this more clear, diagrams of a natural 
foot, and of one which has suffered distortion from acute laminitis, are 
represented on page 374. In the natural foot, the pedal bone is situated 
close to the outer crust; in the laminitic foot, the bone is forced down- 
ward toward the sole, which it ultimately penetrates. There is an artery 
running around the lower edge of the coffin-bone; upon this artery the 
animal, if suffered to live, would, after displacement of the coffin-bone, 
be obliged to tread. The consequence is that a horse, having a foot 
thus distorted, cannot by any possibility take a sound step; it lives in 
torture and moves in anguish. 
DIAGRAM. 
