WEST OF ENGLAND VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 81 
upon which, and finding that the lameness is confined to one foot, 
and has only existed a few weeks, and that it is not of a very 
severe character, that there is no altered structure of the foot, no 
straight or knuckling pastern, or any other sign to excite suspicion 
that the disease has existed a long time, you may fairly presume that 
it is in its congestive stage, in which state many cases remain 
months without producing much change in the structure of the 
bone, or passing into the ulcerative stage, or affecting the articu- 
latory surface of the bone or cartilage. 
As I have before stated, and which can be seen in the morbid 
specimens. Nature is capable of repairing any amount of injury to 
the internal structure of the bone, provided that the disease has 
not affected the articulatory surface of the bone or cartilage. 
The treatment which I have adopted with very great success for the 
last twenty-five years, has been a cold water bath, with the water 
deep enough to reach the fetlock joints, in which the horse is tied 
up four hours in the morning and a like period in the afternoon, 
which is continued for a month or six weeks. As a rule the lame- 
ness is removed in from two to three weeks ; but it is not advisable 
to discontinue the use of the bath immediately the lameness has 
left, otherwise there will be danger of a relapse. It is essentially 
necessary that the horse should have a loose box during the time 
of the bath treatment. 
Unless the case has been a very slight one, a longer rest in a 
loose box is necessary, to allow the vessels to recover their tone. 
Should the case be one in which the destructive process had com- 
menced in the structure of the bone, the treatment will in all 
probability stop that diseased action, and allow nature to commence 
the reparative process ; but as that is a slow one, it will require a 
longer rest than when the bone is only congested or inflamed. 
1 have occasionally had a case which has had the use of the 
bath for two or three weeks with but little benefit ; under these 
circumstances, I apply an active blister round the coronet, and 
turn the horse into a large loose box. 
Bleeding in the foot, thinning the sole, rasping the wall away at 
the quarters, or any other of the mutilations which used to be 
practised for the treatment of this disease, are a positive injury 
instead of a benefit. I have not recommended bleeding in the 
foot for some years past, as I am not acquainted with any disease 
which requires it. 
I have many times known horses to be lame from navicular 
disease for several months, yet ultimately become quite sound. 
Some years since I could not satisfy myself of the state of the 
joint to admit of such results, and I have no doubt that there are 
members present who have been equally perplexed under similar 
circumstances. 
When the articulatory surface of the bone and cartilage is ulcer- 
ated, treatment can only be palliative, restoration to soundness is 
impossible; but such cases are often enabled to work comparatively 
sound, if they are made to stand in water or wet clay during the 
XLiir. 6 
