768 
DISEASES OF THE FOOT. 
the animal to move with the feet further apart, but have no permanent 
effect on the action, and as soon as they are removed the animal strikes 
as before. A “Yorkshire hoot 1 ' is useful in dry weather, and can be 
made more effectual if before folding down the upper part a thin straw 
plait be wound regularly round the point struck. When the upper 
portion of cloth is folded down it secures the plait in position. 
F. DISEASES OF THE FOOT. 
Though the horse’s foot and the claws of dogs and oxen are physiologi¬ 
cally homologous, and in structure practically identical, yet the diseases 
to which they are subject vary in many respects in consequence of the 
different influences to which they are exposed. The horse’s foot being 
more liable to injury than the ruminant’s claws, becomes diseased 
not only more frequently, but also in different ways. The claws of 
carnivora again play quite a different part to the hoof and claws of 
herbivora. 
It may, therefore, be well to first turn our attention to diseases of the 
foot, especially as they have been more carefully studied. As diseases 
of the feet are fully dealt with in Dollar and Wheatley’s “ Horse-shoeing 
and the Horse’s Foot,” it is here only necessary to shortly consider such 
of the inflammatory processes within the foot as have a direct bearing 
on veterinary practice. 
(a) Acute Inflammation of the Podophyllous AIembrane. 
PODODERMATITIS AcUTA. 
Acute inflammation of the podophyllous membrane is, with few 
exceptions, produced by infection with micro-organisms, and in many 
cases is accompanied by mechanical injuries. On account of the sensitive 
laminae and sole being bounded on one side by the unyielding horny box, 
and on the other by the os pedis, inflammatory swelling, especially when 
of a septic nature, must be painful, and tend to necrosis. The latter, 
though to some extent antagonised by the great vascularity of the parts, 
is nevertheless not infrequent. 
The surface of the podophyllous membrane possesses a well-developed 
stratum mucosum, formed of numerous layers of epithelium, which, 
however, show no horny character. Not infrequently inflammation is 
entirely confined to this without extending to the corium, a condition 
termed pododermatitis superficialis, in contra-distinction to inflamma¬ 
tion of the deeper-lying structures corresponding to the corium and 
subcutaneous connective tissue, which is termed pododermatitis 
parenchymatoso vel profunda. 
(1) Pododermatitis superficialis generally follows exposure of the 
