VETERINARY MEDICAL SOCIETY. 
JS3 
take off all weight and pressure from the part ? for we know the 
sensibility of an inflamed surface. He would place the diseased 
parts as much as possible in a state of rest; and when the inflam¬ 
mation had perfectly subsided, it would be ti,me enough to con¬ 
sider how far treatment of another kind might be requisite. 
Mr. Turner .—One would suppose that Mr. Percivall deemed 
it expedient to put every horse labouring under this disease into a 
sling. 
CD 
Mr. Percivall would certainly put every inflamed part into a 
state of rest, and particularly a part so sensitive as a synovial 
membrane. 
Mr. Turner . -1 have not ordered the horse to be trotted. 
I take him out on a surface as soft as I can make it, and slowly 
walk him for half an hour. I have an important object to ac¬ 
complish by this, for I have now softened all the parts of the foot 
so that I can easily bend them, and return the coffin bone to its 
situation, and I have previously subdued inflammation by bleed¬ 
ing. While I am doing this, I scarcely give the horse more exer¬ 
cise than he would take in a loose box. What milder treatment 
can I adopt, unless I sling him ? 
Mr. Goodwin .—I hope Mr. Turner will forgive me for differing 
so decidedly from him, and believe that I mean nothing personal; 
but I must contend that the practice which he recommends is 
most unsurgical and indefensible. He finds very great inflamma¬ 
tion. He bleeds at the toe to abate that inflammation, and on 
the third or fourth day he commences walking exercise. Let the 
ground be ever so soft, he throws the weight of the horse upon an 
inflamed surface, and he must necessarily renew, or prolong, or 
aggravate the inflammation : nay he himself is convinced of the 
danger which he incurs, or the mischief which he may effect, 
for a day or two afterwards he bleeds largely again. What would 
any one think of the surgeon, who for sad lameness in the knee 
first applied leeches, and then ordered the patient to walk about? 
Mr. Turner .—If I had only one object to accomplish, the ob¬ 
servations of Mr. Goodwin might be difficult to answer; but 
while I am abating inflammation, I am endeavouring to restore the 
structure of the part. I should be leaving the thorn in the foot, 
if, after I had relieved the lameness, I did not attempt to bring 
the bones back to their natural position. 
Mr. W. Percivall .—What is the essence of the navicular dis¬ 
ease,—inflammation or displacement ? 
Mr. Turner .—Inflammation undoubtedly. 
Mr. W. Percivall .—Then all unavoidable motion in an in¬ 
flamed part is unsurgical and injurious. It is decidedly wrong. 
It is perfectly irreconcilable with every principle of surgery. 
