84 
ON DISEASE OR STRAIN OF THE SHOULDER. 
vond the bounds of a single farm, and taking into 
view all the circumstances, that such questions are to 
be decided. Lime in the state of carbonate, or sul¬ 
phate (plaster of Paris), is a necessary constituent of 
all fertile soils, and is found in the ash of all our cul¬ 
tivated crops. When, therefore, a farmer finds little 
or no good effect resulting from its application, he 
would do well, in place of forthwith condemning it, 
to seek a solution in the physical condition, or the 
chemical constitution of his soil. 
I might upon this subject present you with many 
interesting scientific generalizations, but 1 think it 
better for the present to leave to the careful conside¬ 
ration of your readers the above interesting illustration 
of the benefit of scientific investigation to practical 
agriculture. John P. Norton. 
Edinburgh, Jan. 1, 1845. 
SWINEY—OR DISEASE OR STRAIN OF THE 
SHOULDER. 
This is an affection not uncommon, but yet little 
understood. If of recent Occurrence it will be seen 
that the shoulder is swelled ; if of long standing, that 
the shoulder is diminished in size, the muscles having 
shrunk away. The shoulder is frequently shrunk 
when there is no disease in it. This shrinking 
arises from disuse of the muscles. To retain its full 
volume a muscle must have constant action. Now, 
disuse of the muscles of the shoulder may arise from 
two causes. 1st, lameness of the foot or leg; 2d, 
lameness of the shoulder. If it arise from the foot, no 
treatment is necessary for the shoulder. It may be easi¬ 
ly known if it proceeds from the foot. In such case 
the horse, when he moves, lifts his/oof dear from the 
ground; and when he points his foot forward, he 
places it flat on the ground. If the injury be in the 
shoulder, when he moves he drags the toe of the foot 
along the ground, seemingly unable to lift it clear; 
when he points his foot out, his toe only rests on 
the ground, not the sole of the foot. If the injury is 
in the shoulder the horse reluctantly turns his head 
towards the opposite shoulder; this strains the mus¬ 
cles ; but he will willingly turn his head toward the 
lame shoulder, as this relaxes the muscles. 
The common causes of shrinking or swiney of 
the shoulder, when it arises from the foot or injury to 
the leg below the shoulder, are all the diseases of the 
foot and leg, which continue long enough to occa* 
sion such a disease of the muscles of the shoulder as 
to occasion their shrinking. Such diseases are foot 
founder, contraction of the foot, strain of the navicu¬ 
lar joint, ring-bone, pumiced foot, sand crack, quittor, 
gravel, any separation of the foot, in short, any 
of the various diseases of the foot which induce the 
horse to favor it and thus use as little as possible the 
whole leg and shoulder. 
The shrinking of the shoulder, where it arises from 
an injury in the shoulder itself, has but one ordinary 
cause, viz , a strain of the shoulder. When there is 
strain of the shoulder, it is known at once Within 
a few hours after its occurrence the shoulder is 
swelled, perhaps in its whole length, but generally 
only at the lower end. The strain lies almost al¬ 
ways in the muscles which attach the shoulder-blade 
to the body; yet the swelling is on the outside; but 
this arises from sympathy. 
When the horse is observed to be lame and it can- 
aot at once be determined where the lameness is, let 
him be walked, and if he drag his toe, it is in the 
shoulder. Let the shoulder be examined’in front; if 
the affection be of Jong standing, the shoulder will be 
seen to be less than the other. If on feeling it, it 
be found to be free of heat, there will be no fever. 
The disease is then chronic. If, however, the shoul¬ 
der be enlarged, it will be found, on feeling, to be hot 
—the injury is then recent and inflammatory. Where 
the disease is in the shoulder, and is chronic, it has 
gone through the inflammatory stage, and is of some 
considerable standing The chronic state is rarely 
cured. It is not unlike rheumatism. For the chronii 
state the best remedy is active blistering. This will 
rouse the vessels to activity. It may be necessary to 
blister repeatedly, and exercise should accompany the 
blistering, with good grooming and general care. Let 
the exercise commence as soon as the blister begins to 
diminish its discharge. This treatment, continued ju¬ 
diciously and energetically for some time, may cure 
chronic disease of the shoulder. When the strain is 
recent, and inflammation exists, the horse should be 
bled from the neck and from the plate vein on the in¬ 
side of the leg, as near the body as possible. Rest, cool¬ 
ing physic, both purgative and sedentary, should be 
given —no blistering should be allowed. Embroca¬ 
tions of a cooling nature should be applied. No sti¬ 
mulants should be applied externally, or given. They 
but add to the inflammation. When the inflamma¬ 
tion is subdued and the shoulder has fallen back to 
its natural size, the horse needs nothing but rest, with 
gentle exercise. Let him be turned out, if in the 
summer, to grass; in the winter, into a small yard in 
good weather, and a loose box at night in bad wea¬ 
ther. It will take him some time to get over the ef¬ 
fects and be fit for work again. 
When the shoulder is shrunk or swiaeyed from 
lameness in the foot or leg, below the shoulder, no 
attention should be paid to the shoulder. When both 
feet or legs are diseased, so that the horse seeks to 
relieve each alternately from pressure, both shoul¬ 
ders will be swineyed ; they will be both shrunk, 
and the breast in front will be diminished and fall 
in. The treatment in these cases is to be addressed 
to the place of disease. If in the feet, cure them ; if 
in the legs, cure them. Some diseases in the feet 
cannot be cured, and, of course, if there be swiney 
from such cause, it cannot be removed. When the 
feet and legs are cured, and the horse recovers there¬ 
by his wonted action, the muscles of the shoulder 
will, by exercise, recover their former size, and the 
swiney be gone. 
Among the ignorant there is a variety of remedies 
for the swiney, as pegging (that is thrusting a knife 
in the shoulder and blowing in stimulating powders), 
swimming, setons, &c. A recent writer in the 
Southern Cultivator says, “ introduce the small blade 
e«f a common pocket knife (the point of which must 
be sharp), into the thinnest part of the shoulder, which 
will be near the upper margin of the shoulder-blade, 
holding the knife as you would a pen when writing, 
and scratch up the membrane that covers the bone 
for a space the size of a silver dollar; the knife may 
be then withdrawn. The knife may then be intro¬ 
duced in one or two places below the first, and used 
in the same way, and the operation is over.” Now, 
if the disease be in the shoulder, this method can only 
cure by rousing the vessels to action. Blistering 
will do this better, and is more humane and less dan- 
