LAMENESS IN HOUSES 607 
to the heel of the foot. All this portends mischief, the next stage 
being 
Dislocation of the Coffin-bone and Bulging of the 
Sole ; and when this has become an ascertained fact — as the ap- 
pearance of the sole itself will give unwelcome intelligence of, as 
well as the sinking or indentation inward of the wall — our hopes 
may be said all to have merged into despair. The coffin-bone can 
never be raised again into its place — even though it may not have 
protruded through the horny sole, which is sometimes the case — 
the sole never again restored to its normal shape, and therefore the 
lameness arising from tenderness of foot consequent thereon be- 
comes permanent and irremoveable ; notwithstanding there be cases, 
as we shall find when we come to consider the sub-acute form of the 
disease, which admit of mitigation so far as to enable the animal to 
perform certain duties at, for the most part, a slow or walking pace. 
This is the only consolation left to us. At the same time we must 
bear in mind, that the protrusion of the coffin-bone through the 
horny sole is the signal, in most cases,, for the destruction of a life 
which can but eke out its existence in a state of suffering and 
wretchedness. But, now and then we have, prior to this displace- 
ment and disorganization of parts taking place, 
SUPPURATION OF THE Foot. Purulent matter at first makes its 
appearance in scanty masses, mingled with the serous or sero-albu- 
minous effusion at the coronet. By degrees, pus becomes the 
predominant secretion ; so that what with parts in succession 
taking on the suppurative action, and the pus itself collecting and 
gravitating and spreading in every direction, gradually a separa- 
tion is worked between the sensitive foot and its horny case, 
until, in the end, the latter, losing all hold and connexion, is cast, 
i. e., is thrown off the foot, the same as a loose shoe is kicked off 
one of our own feet. Of this, of course, the consequences are 
grievous in the extreme ; at the same time that thereby the case 
of our poor sufferer is rendered utterly beyond the pale of all re- 
medy and hope, and he himself has become a fit subject only for 
the knacker’s yard. 
Mortification may be expected to ensue in cases wherein the 
inflammation in the feet assumes a congestive character, and no 
relief is afforded the over-loaded bloodvessels, either by treatment 
or otherwise. The swollen tissues of the sensitive foot, with the 
horny wall opposed to them in front and the coffin-bone behind, 
can in nowise obtain relief save through pressure upwards towards 
the coronet ; and therefore it is that, unchecked by timely or effi- 
cient treatment, or for want of any treatment at all, the distended 
and compressed tissues fall into mortification. Inflammation con- 
tinues to rage with unabated violence; suppuration does not fol- 
