616 
LAMENESS IN HORSES. 
ing a novel, and what appeared in my eyes a strange, plan of treat- 
ment for laminitis ; a plan, indeed, which entertaining notions such 
as in these pages have been laid down, could be viewed at the 
time by me in no other light than as the unseemly and incon- 
gruous application of the mechanical art to veterinary therapeutics; 
nor has trial of it by me been followed by such results as to serve 
to bring it, in my mind, anywise into favour. However, it is not 
my desire, by any pre-expressed opinions of my own, to throw cold 
water on that which the Professor himself has described in such 
terms of confidence and commendation as to leave little doubt but 
many others besides myself have put the "new method” to the test. 
I shall therefore submit his paper, entire, to my readers in the trans- 
lated form in which I find it in The Veterinarian*. 
Professor De Nanzio’s “New Method of Cure” is, in 
that volume, introduced to our notice and described as follows : — 
“ Inflammation of the laminae is a disease very common among 
Neapolitan horses. It is inflammation of the reticular tissue of 
the foot, called by Professor Vatel jwdophyllite. 
“ In this disease it is absolutely necessary to procure resolution , 
because the other terminations are more or less destructive of the 
future health and utility of the foot. The reticular tissue is here 
engorged, and has a tendency still more to dilate — phenomena 
which are observable in every vascular inflammation, when there 
is augmentation of the volume of the part. 
“ The reticular tissue of the foot, finding itself compressed be- 
tween the crust and the bone of the foot, can be dilated only to- 
wards the coronet, or more frequently towards the sole. In these 
parts we observe suppurations, infiltrations, & c., which often 
compel us to abandon the treatment of the disease, and to destroy 
the animal. 
“ In this inflammation, cold baths, bleeding, and all other known 
means of cure, usually fail in producing resolution. 
“ Having constantly observed that horses affected with this ma- 
lady are, to a certain degree, relieved, every time they are shod ; 
and do better when they are made to stand on hard pavement, and 
without straw, than when they are treated in an opposite way, I 
was led to make use of very strong compression of the hoof. As 
soon as a horse is attacked with this disease, I put on him a flat- 
soled shoe, fastened with four or five nails. Before fixing this 
plate, and in order that the pressure may bear on the whole of the 
surface, I cause every part of the space between it and the sole to 
be perfectly filled with pledgets of tow dipped in equal parts of 
vinegar and water. 
* Vol. x, at page 68-9 of the Proceedings of the Veterinary Medical 
Association. 
