LAMENESS IN THE FEET OF HORSES. 57 
I think I need not remark how the reverse of this position must 
favour contraction. 
When the toe is allowed to grow long, the heels high, and the 
frog elevated, the softest part of the fatty frog becomes absorbed ; 
the horny frog no longer meets with its natural opponent, the 
ground ; and, consequently, other important parts lose their 
counter-pressure and support. This is clearly seen when a horse 
is first observed to be getting wrong in his feet, and often before 
either lameness ensues, or that marked symptom of the disease, 
pointi/ig of the feet. If such a horse be carefully watched in his 
stall, without being disturbed, he will be found inclining his 
weight as much as possible on his extensor tendons, and thereby 
relaxing the limb. P: 
Allowing the hoof to become hard, dry, and inelastic, particu¬ 
larly the sole and frog, from the want of stoppings or emollients, 
a serious evil ensues ; but I think the degree of evaporation of the 
moisture of the hoof, arising from the heat of litter, has been 
much over-rated by Mr. Coleman and others ; and I coincide with 
Mr. Percivall, sen., that the clean straw beds usually given at the 
present day are perfectly harmless, and more suspect that the 
evaporation is occasioned by heat generated within the foot than 
applied from without. 
With regard to shoeing, as one of the causes, I believe all 
writers, ancient and modern (except the renowned Nimrod), are 
agreed by having designated it “ a necessary evil.” An evil un¬ 
doubtedly it is, though, in my humble opinion, not quite so fre¬ 
quent as declared. 
Having adopted a shoe of a peculiar construction for the last 
eighteen months as an experiment, I intend to embrace an early 
opportunity of soliciting the gentlemen of this Society to scruti¬ 
nize it, and express their opinions candidly thereon. 
The first mischief that accrues from contraction of the horny 
cavity, I have not found to consist in disease or derangement of 
the laminated structure surrounding the coffin bone, from com¬ 
pression, as many writers have asserted, and particularly so where 
ossification of the laminae has been said to be a frequent effect of 
contraction: I have rarely seen this, except where the compres¬ 
sion had been occasioned by an accidental injury. 
With regard to ossification of the cartilages of the foot, and os¬ 
sification of portions of the ligaments of the navicular bone, and 
other bony excrescences within the foot, I have to remark, that, 
having dissected so many extreme cases of chronic foot lameness 
of many years’ standing, in which I have found all the ravages of 
this disease limited to a space within the foot not exceeding half 
an inch square, and unaccompanied with the slightest disease of 
i 
