252 
THOUGHTS ON LAMIN1TIS. 
profession, that his is a chequered scene indeed, — that his 
path through this life is not all smiles and happy sunshine, 
but is often beset with cares and deep anxieties, which are 
inseparably interwoven with his every-day duties. He will 
find, too, times and seasons when he will have to use his 
utmost tact and talent to pilot himself through some unfore- 
seen difficulty ; in having to appease the ire of some unsatis- 
fied client, and to convince him that the loss he has 
sustained was unavoidable ; but more especially so if he has 
unhappily neglected that great and grand desideratum in 
practice of forewarning, and thus preparing his client for such 
a result. But even worse still is his difficulty, if he has in 
its early stages unguardedly represented the case as one of 
light importance. A few of these admonishers will rouse him 
to intellectual effort, and an endeavour to discover some im- 
provement in the treatment of diseases wffiich, whilst it 
proves valuable to himself, may also be found beneficial to 
others. 
After these prefatory remarks, I will now more particularly 
apply myself to the consideration of that most formidable 
disease, with which this paper is headed, as it shows itself in 
cart-horses. I consider this disease as one peculiar in itself, 
and distinct from all others of the plantar organ, since it is 
more acutely painful than the rest, and its duration more 
protracted. Sometimes the true cause is buried too deep in 
mystery to be clearly defined ; at other times we quiet all 
qualms of conscience by a complacent assurance within 
ourselves that we have discovered the delinquent, and that 
the assignable cause is self-evident. But I opine that in 
the majority of even such cases as these, were we to 
investigate the history of them physiologically only a little 
deeper, we should find much to excite our interest, and open 
up points of singularity, some of which seem enwrapped in 
a veil which it is our duty if possible to withdraw. 
Presuming that I am addressing practical men, I deem it 
altogether unnecessary to go into the ordinary details of this 
disease. I will therefore simply adduce the fact that, during 
my professional career, I have encountered a goodly number 
of these intractable cases, and that my treatment has been 
attended with varied success. Some have been cases of what 
is usually described as acute, others subacute, and again 
others chronic. But it appears to me that these forms do 
not differ in kind, only in degree ; that they are one and the 
same disease, and emanating originally from one cause, and 
not, as is usually described, to one of three causes, namely, — 
1st, to violence done to the feet by too long-continued 
