430 
ON CORONITIS. 
By W. A. Cherry, M.R.C.V.S. 
The object of the following paper is to draw attention to an 
important disease of the foot of the horse, which, as far as I am 
acquainted, has not been heretofore alluded to. I think that I 
shall be able to shew that the brittleness, diminished secretion, 
and harshness of the horn, arise from derangement or disease of 
the coronary substance or body, and do not depend upon general 
disease of the foot, nor upon other individual disease, unless the 
coronary body is also included in the mischief. Thus, after acute 
laminitis has degenerated into the chronic form, the true hoof 
regains the normal character of toughness and pliability, and 
though irregular in its deposition, being what is termed ringy, yet 
in other respects healthy In naviculitis, the hoof is smooth and 
elastic ; if otherwise, it arises from another cause than pure navi- 
culitis. After severe attacks of general fever, the crust will occa- 
sionally be found to have a horizontal line of separation extending 
around beneath the coronet ; and still more frequently will it be 
found that the portion of horn which is produced during the attack 
of a general fever is harsh, dry, and less in quantity, and which 
characters it continues to bear until it is finally removed by wear 
or otherwise at the edge of the crust ; while that portion which 
follows next upon it, and is produced during convalescence, or after 
the restoration of health, has precisely the opposite characters. 
Indeed, to a critical eye, the appearance and actual state of the 
horn will be, cceteris paribus , often a correct guide to general con- 
dition. An animal that is hide -bound will be found to have a 
harsh dry ring of horn around the coronet, of greater or less 
breadth, according to the duration of the general derangement of 
health, of which the tense unhealthy-looking skin is only a 
symptom. 
It was the observance of these different appearances which 
led me to suspect that there might be a cause different to what was 
generally considered to which these changes might be owing. 
About the year 1833 those suspicions became confirmed, and close 
observation up to the present time has led to the further confirma- 
tion, in my own mind, of the existence of diseased or deranged 
state of function of the coronary body. This disease or derange- 
ment, I think, may be appropriately named Coronitis. 
The disease is practically known amongst country practitioners 
by the term chilled in the feet, and is not (unless by the ignorant) 
confounded with laminitis, for which they use the term foundered. 
