20 
W. BRYDEN. 
high condition. * * * In like manner it has manifest 
exciting causes, such as strain of the tendon and over-exer¬ 
tion, pressure of the sole, from traveling with a stone in the 
foot, etc., etc.” 
The above are remarks by one who was a leader in our 
profession, and one whom all will long delight to honor and 
applaud. His efforts were directed to finding the “ proximate 
cause ” of this disease ; consequently he endeavored to dem¬ 
onstrate that strain and over-extension of the tendon, where 
it passes under the navicular bone, injures the synovial cap¬ 
sule between the tendon and navicular bone. This he be¬ 
lieved to be the primary and permanent disease. 
Now we do not quote the above because it is correct, but 
because it is as nearly being so as anything on the subject 
found in works of much greater pretensions, published 
many years later. Ia both old and recent publications we 
find confusing statements and accounts of the views and 
theories held by old veterinarians, many of them eminent in 
their day and generation, no doubt, and interesting too ; but 
they are more conspicuous now as picturesque figures in the 
history of the profession than for the exactness of their 
knowledge of those diseases peculiar to the locomotive organs of 
the horse; having failed to distinguish between such diseases, 
and those liable to afflict all classes of animals, a fault still 
found in recent works, which repeat the same old story 
with slight variations, because their authors view the hoof 
from a standpoint that did not credit it with the far-reaching 
influence it possesses and exerts. 
For this reason I trust you will not consider it over-pre¬ 
sumptuous on my part, with no better acquaintance with pa¬ 
thology than the ordinary practitioner possesses, to try to 
change the tale, be it ever so little. In the study of this sub¬ 
ject, our attention is first directed to the fact that the soliped 
stands and moves on the points of his toes, which are covered 
and protected by a “ horny box,” a wonderful organism, 
having a limited elasticity and accommodation within it, and 
very liable to be affected adversely by surroundings and 
circumstances unfavorable to its organization and growth. 
