LAMENESS IN HORSES. 
364 
and make the requisite pressure with very little comparative 
trouble. Sometimes a plain shoe, sometimes a three-quartered 
shoe, sometimes a bar-shoe, is the one best suited for the case. 
But a shoe which possesses peculiar advantages in canker is 
what is called the box-shoe ; since it not only serves for pro- 
tection, but is a great defence against injury and dirt and wet 
while the horse is at work. And of box-shoes I know of no 
better description than those recommended by Mr. Wells, V.S., 
of Norwich*. 
Now, however, that leather and gutta percha are introduced 
into the forge, we may, either with a plain bar-shoe or a common 
shoe, make use of either of them as a cover and protection to the 
dressing; though, of course, the durability of these substances 
has its limit, and such may in consequence turn out, in the end, 
somewhat expensive. The proper leather for use is the sole 
leather of shoemakers, which will have to be secured with the 
nails of the shoe. The gutta percha has the advantage of being 
capable of being moulded into the sole of the foot while the shoe 
is on. by being previously made soft and flexible by immersion 
in water at nearly boiling heat : when cold, it becomes again 
perfectly hard and firm, and proves an excellent protective. In 
this way the same piece of gutta percha may be used for several 
times; each time, however, it will be found to have become 
less influenced by heat and cold and to have shrunk, so that 
ultimately it turns rotten, and so calls for repair or renewal. 
The box-shoe, in durability, has, of course, the advantage over 
these contrivances ; but is heavier for the horse to carry. 
The Principle of Treatment, so far as the separation of 
the anormal from the normal parts being fully and satisfactorily 
carried out, must now be completed by the destruction of the 
former, and the preservation of the latter from the same diseased 
action. The drawing-knife laid aside, the shoe best adapted 
for the foot should now be determined, and fitted and nailed on. 
This done, the dressing may be commenced. Fungus present- 
ing itself in prominent masses may be pared down to a certain 
extent with the scalpel : though this is a practice I am myself 
not friendly to, unless the fungous growths be of extraordinary 
luxuriance, and then great care is required, since the operation 
is very likely to excite troublesome and by no means salutary 
hemorrhage. Some practitioners burn down the fungus with a 
red-hot iron, or cut it off with a sharp firing-iron : this is a 
practice, however, which for my own part 1 do not pursue. 
For cases of the ordinary description I think the object may be 
accomplished, and, in fact, is best effected, by 
DRESSINGS. — And for the most effectual and curative I may, 
* See The Veterinarian for April last, p. 196. 
