MELANOSIS. 
493 
tip, that the wall of the shoeless hoof be kept rasped down, lest 
he should break away or crack the horn, and so render his 
feet incapable, when taken up, of having shoes nailed to them. 
From two to three months at least should be allowed the horse 
from the period of his being turned out. 
MELANOSIS. 
Stanmore, August 13, 1851. 
My dear Percivall, — SOME time ago, as far back, I find, as 
January last, my attention was called to a horse, aged 11 years, 
with a swelling in the glutei muscles, which with a little 
treatment apparently subsided, and I heard nothing more of him 
until June 20th. He was then brought to me under the suppo- 
sition that he had hurt himself in drawing a load of coals down 
the road. He went so lame with the near hind leg, that he was 
scarcely able to walk ten yards without the fetlock joint 
knuckling over. I had forgotten having seen him before ; but 
feeling satisfied the mischief, whatever it was, was high up, I 
gave him a dose of physic, and bathed the quarter with some 
embrocation. He seemed to get a little better under the treat- 
ment; but at the beginning of July got much worse, so much, 
indeed, that he could scarcely bear any weight at all upon the 
leg. I told his owner that 1 feared there must be some fracture 
of the pelvis, and he seemed to me as though he could never 
be useful to him again, and recommended him to have him 
destroyed. However, he did not like that exactly, and said 
he would let him go on a little longer. He did so, and the ani- 
mal got so much worse that both legs became affected ; the near 
side, however, still being the worst. The animal stuck his 
back up at every step, and raised the tail, his hock at the same 
time almost touching the ground. In this further development 
of the case I told the master that there must be something 
amiss with, or some part connected with, the spinal cord. He 
at length sank down, and was unable afterwards to rise beyond 
sitting on his haunches, in an almost perpendicular position. 
Previous to his falling the flexor muscles had become very hard 
indeed. After he had been down a day or two I at length pre- 
vailed on his owner to have him destroyed. 
Post-morlem . — On removing the skin off the quarter most 
affected there was nothing visible; but over the lumbar region 
