LAMENESS IN HORSES. 
69 
the ragged or rotten parts of the frush rather than applying 
them to the seat of the disease. For any permanent good to 
be done, the entire decayed or ragged covering of horn lining 
and filling the cleft must be scooped out and got rid of ; all the 
dead horn, in fact, must be removed with the drawing-knife, 
and the living horn and deep-seated diseased sensitive parts of 
the cleft freely exposed ; and then, but not till then, may we 
apply our dressings. To accomplish this, it may, indeed, in 
inveterate and bad frushes, become necessary to cut away the 
major part of the frog, or indeed the whole of it, supposing it to 
be under-run, which is sometimes the case. Notwithstanding 
this, however, it is often in our power, in case of emergency or 
compulsion, to send such horses to work by bolstering their dis- 
eased frogs up with pledgets of tow, and defending them from 
wet and dirt by leathern or guttapercha soles. In such a case, 
however, the same sharp dressing is hardly applicable which 
we would, perhaps, prefer applying to the frush of a horse in a 
similar state whom we had an opportunity of confining within 
doors. I should then, unscrupulously, apply a sharp dressing, 
such as the compound solution of sulphate of copper*, or the 
chloride of antimony, or even undiluted nitric acid, according 
to the exigencies of the case. I know there is a feeling in the 
minds of grooms and farriers, and in those of some veterinarians 
too, against such “ sharp” treatment ; and I am not ashamed to 
confess I have felt, and perhaps do still feel, at times, some 
hesitation at so acting. I have, somehow or other, imbibed this 
vulgar notion, or, as I believe it to be, “ popular delusion,” and 
cannot altogether disencumber my mind of it; notwithstanding, 
I can with great force and truth say, that I never saw “ inflamed 
eyes” — for they are said to be the seat of the apprehended me- 
tastasis — arise out of the arrest of the discharges from frushes; 
though I have many times witnessed, and indeed expect, in 
certain cases, inflammation of the foot and lameness from it 
after the first application of such acrid and caustic dressings : 
and therefore do I invariably take care to prepare the way by 
low diet and physic; and also, wherever such lameness does 
ensue, take pains to mitigate it all in my power by warm baths 
and poultices, and abstinence for some time to come from any 
repetition of such dressings, should they even be found needed. 
Were I to set about to offer any list of the various medica- 
ments, either in the shape of simples or compounds, which have 
at one time or another, and by one person and another, recom- 
mended and extolled for “ the cure of frush,” I might, I verily 
believe, enumerate all the articles of the veterinary pharma- 
* According to Mr. Morton’s formula: — see his “ Veterinary Pharmacy.” 
VOL. XXIV. L 
