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subside. In cases of injury of the foot, it is well to give a moderate dose of 
aloes in the first instance, and to feed the animal on a laxative diet of warm 
water, bran mashes, and oil-cake gruel, until the inflammation and fever 
subside. Half an ounce of nitre and half an ounce of bicarbonate of 
potassium, may be given once daily in the drinking water. The writer was 
recently called to a case where it was necessary to remove the whole of the 
sole, and the animal, although previously much neglected, made a complete 
recovery. In some instances, the coffin bone is injured by the penetrating 
nail, or other foreign substance. Such cases, as arule, are very severe and 
lingering. In a horse recently attended, a nail had penetrated into the 
navicular joint, and caused not only very acute pain, but also very high fever, 
In such cases, even when the “matter” has been liberated, the animal still goes 
very lame; and, indeed, the continuance of thelameness is sometimes the 
only symptom, which leads us to suspect such a serious condition of the foot. 
During the early part of last year, we were called to see a six-year-old cart 
mare. A piece of pointed wood had penetrated into one of the feet, between 
the bar and the side of the frog, for a distance of about three inches. The 
pulse was imperceptible, and the mare gasped for breath in her intense 
agony. Ina very short space of time, in spite of all-remedial measures, the 
animal died from the acuteness of the pain. Although strongly recommended 
by me to shoot the animal, the owner had refused, not realising the futility 
of treatment. Some years ago the late Mr. _D. Gresswell was called toa 
horse with acute lock-jaw, the result of a nail which had passed into the 
cleft of the frog. We may conclude our remarks on injuries of the foot, by 
advising our readers in all severe cases, to procure professional aid as early 
as possible. 
SIDE-BONE, 
WE mentioned, in describing the structures of the horse’s foot, that the pedal 
or coffin bone, contained within the hoof, has, on each side of it, a lateral 
prolongation of cartilage or gristle. We may now add a few particulars 
regarding these important appendages, which are generally spoken of as the 
lateral cartilages. These are thicker and more extensive in the fore than in 
the hind feet, and are peculiar to the equide or horse tribe. When one 
considers the important purpose which these cartilages subserve, it will 
readily be seen how it is that, if they are ossified, or, in other words, turned 
into bone through disease, when they are called ‘“side-bones,” very untoward 
results are produced. Regarding the functions of these two thin 
quadrangular plates of cartilage, which surround the wings of the pedal bone, 
Professor Williams says, that, in virtue of their elasticity, they assist the 
sensitive frog and the soft structures of the foot, in regaining their natural 
position, after being pressed upwards and outwards, by the weight of the 
animal. Undoubtedly, he writes, they expand at their hinder borders, each 
time the animal puts his foot to the ground; but, in this expansion of the 
heel, they are mere passive agents, being in fact pressed outwards by the 
structures, contained in the space between them. They are, however, active 
ote, 
