382 NAVICULAR DISEASE. 
Navicular disease appears to the author to have been entirely mistaken 
as regards its treatment. It is administered to as though it consisted in 
violent and acute inflammation, whereas it is caused by a different pro- 
cess—namely, ulceration. Inflammation excites the whole system, and 
occurs in strong bodies: ulceration is a diseased condition peculiar to 
the aged and to the weakly. Navicular disease is, so far as the writer’s 
knowledge extends, unknown in the unbroken animal. It mostly affects 
the adult or the aged. It is not inflammatory; for the foot, in the first 
instance, exhibits no heat, and, in the after-stages, never becomes more 
than warm. Often the warmth is so very slight that practitioners have 
to adopt a kind of stratagem to determine which is the more hot of the 
fore feet. A pail of water is brought forward, and sufficient to thor- 
oughly wet both hoofs is thrown over the feet. The parts are then 
watched ; and that which becomes dry the sooner is reasonably consid- 
ered the warmer hoof of the two. 
Moreover, the consequences of this disease are absorption, which it 
takes years to effect—not deposition, which is accomplished in a few 
days. The bone lessens in size, sometimes grows thin, till ultimately it 
may fracture; the tendon loses in substance, and its fibers separate, till 
at length they may rupture. All internal structures which enter into 
the composition of the foot grow less and less, till the hoof becomes 
obviously small or contracted ; for it is a law of nature that, in the living 
creature, the contents should govern the covering: thus the brain con- 
trols the skull, the lungs regulate the chest, etc. etc. The horn alone 
increases ; but it is a curious fact that Nature always endeavors to pro- 
tect the part she allows to suffer from disease: thus in rickets, with 
children, the bones of the legs frequently curve; 
but Nature, true to her principles, strives, by 
extra deposition, to strengthen the parts which 
threaten to break through weakness. 
All tokens declare the navicular disease to 
be a chronic affection, attended by symptoms 
of bodily weakness. The accompanying exam- 
ple of the disorder, taken from the body of a 
horse which was killed for incurable lameness, 
A MORBID PREPARATION, KINDLY 
LENT To THe AUTHOR BY 7. w. Will illustrate fully this fact. 
GOWING, ESQ. 
In this specimen, the navicular bone occupies 
The diseased surface of the na- k : 4 
vicular bone exposed, and the its natural situation between the wings of the 
affected tendon turned back up- ms y ¥ 
onthe lower part of theospedis. og pedis. That portion of the tendon which 
once shared and concealed the disease is turned 
back upon the sole of the coffin-bone. What does the inspection dis- 
close? Three small holes within the bone, and a few stains of blood, 
