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CENTRAL VETERINARY MEDICAL SOCIETY. 
cave shoe, which should be properly adjusted (fitted), bearing 
equally on sole and wall alike. 
Mr. T. W. Gowing, sen., after recapitulation of the conditions 
attendant upon laminitis, said the secretion of horn is usually defi- 
cient, and, in consequence, the sole is thin, in many instances being 
worn through. In others, the reverse may occur, and, therefore, 
different states called for appropriate methods of shoeing. Some 
animals might travel with narrow shoes, but others could not be 
caused to move without broad ones. 
Mr. Thomas Burrell, jun., said the object of the veterinary sur- 
geon is not only to cure the laminitis, but to restore the foot to its 
former healthy condition. He thought that cases should be treated 
as they are found. When the soles are thin, and the animal cannot 
bear weight upon a plain surface, he cannot therefore endure the 
shoe proposed by Mr. Fleming. Sole pressure is doubtless required, 
but many cases at the outset will not admit of it. 
The Secretary (G. Armatage) supported the recommendation for 
sole pressure, and abscision of the superfluous horn at the toe, and 
stated the results which had attended the practice dnring previous 
years, not only in his own experience, but in that of others from 
whom he had received it. 
Mr. Fleming, in reply, said he was pleased to find that, notwith- 
standing the amount of apparent dissension, there existed a great 
unanimity of opinion upon the general principles to be embraced in 
combating the disease. In shortening the toe, he considered a great 
amount of mechanical pressure is neutralised, and still farther by 
causing the sole to take a part. This is a necessary proceeding in 
the treatment. One of the specimens advanced by Mr. Broad 
exhibited a large concavity in the front of the toe of the coffin bone, 
which he contended was the result of abscess, and the depression of 
the coffin bone, in the absence of deposit, must be an evidence of 
mechanical causes entirely. The treatment of animals under disease, 
it was said, is descending into a matter of £ s. d., and it behoves 
the veterinary practitioner to restore them to health as quickly as 
possible, therefore the best means must be studied to effect that 
purpose. The system of nailing had attracted little attention. The 
common plan is to insert them round the toe, where the pressure 
to be avoided is considerably increased. His principle is to place 
them at the quarters or heels where sound horn is to be obtained. 
Removal of horn at the toe is absolutely necessary, in order to 
reduce leverage or pressure. When the soles are thin, he contended, 
it is due to an absurd system of reduction by the knife of the smith, 
rather than as the result of non -secretion, and as such it is a prolific 
source of descent of the coffin bone. Various results are brought 
about by the different terminations of disease. In the acute stages 
suppuration is established, and consequently removal of substance 
is effected ; but in the subacute stages the absorption of effused 
fluid takes place, and subsequently ensues the accumulation of 
false horn with the debris of the morbid process; meanwhile, how- 
ever, the mal-position of the coffin bone is induced by mechanical 
