368 
N A VICUL ARTHRITIS. 
The FOOT should now be looked to. Its general aspect, 
probably, is that of round and compact, approaching to clubby, 
such as has been afore described ; perhaps rimmy as well around 
the wall, which beneath the coronet exhibits a remarkable shelving 
or falling-in; a “stricture,” as Mr. Turner has denominated it; 
perhaps, also, there is to be observed contraction of the heels, with a 
strange falling off in the natural prominence of the quarters : I say 
“ perhaps” to these appearances, because in a case quite recent, 
and a first attack, all of them may, and most likely will, be absent 
— the hoof will present literally its normal aspect ; though when 
the horse has been any considerable time lame, and when the 
lameness proves to be a second or third attack, such anormalities 
are likely to be sufficiently marked to strike our observation. 
The shoe being taken off, the foot is examined in other parts, 
by means of the drawing knife and pincers. It is possible, after 
all, the case may turn out one of prick by a nail, or of the nail 
being driven too “ coarse,” or of the foot being “ bound by the 
shoe.” Nothing of the kind we will say is demonstrable. The 
sole cuts out dry and hard, and proves to be thick and strong, and 
requires a great deal of its substance to be pared away to make it 
“ give” under the pressure of the thumb ; and when a sufficiency 
has been pared away to produce this effect, the frog, left isolated 
as it were, surprises us by its depth and prominence, while the 
sole itself, through so much paring, has become an arch of striking 
height and concavity. This is the state of hoof that constitutes 
what Mr. Turner has called “ occult contraction ;” and to which 
that gentleman has attached so great import in the production of 
navicularthritis : his words being — “ The occult or partial con- 
traction abruptly opposes the navicular bone in its descent, and 
thereby crushes or bruises the delicate synovial membrane lining 
the joint, which suffers mechanical injury from the very material 
which nature bestowed as a defence, and which has degenerated 
into a hard, rigid, inelastic protuberance, no longer capable of 
yielding and expanding under the superincumbent weight.” And 
in order that we may detect any difference there may exist in this 
particular between the two fore feet, Mr. Turner very properly 
recommends that both fore feet of the lame horse be unshod and 
similarly pared out. I may, however, say of this symptom as I 
said of other alterations or anormalities in the form and aspect of 
the hoof — that it is one which belongs to the chronic or relapsed 
case, and not to the recent one. Pending this investigation into 
the state of the foot, we may, with a view of throwing additional 
light on the nature of the case, put some questions to the master 
of the horse or his groom, and it behoves us to be very particular 
in putting the all-important one, 
