584 
GEO. H. BERNS. 
ness, particularly if involving- more than one limb. While I 
do not wish to say that lumbago and rheumatic lameness do 
not exist in horses, I am satisfied that seventy-five per cent, of 
all the cases diagnosed as such will turn out to be cases of* 
osteo-porosis. In many cases a general unthrifty condition of 
the animal, and partial loss of appetite without any apparent 
cause, may also be noticed in the early stages. English veter¬ 
inarians have evidently given the subject considerable atten¬ 
tion. Very many cases are on record, and the symptoms and 
post-mortem appearances, as well as the structural changes 
in the bones, as revealed by the microscope and chemical 
analysis, have been carefully studied and minutely described 
by Prof. Varnell, Dr. Harly, Prof. Williams and others. 
Germany ,the acknowledged centre of scientific investigation, 
has, as far as I have been able to ascertain, contributed little 
or nothing to the knowledge of this disease, and it is therefore 
reasonable to infer that it cannot exist in that country to any 
great extent. 
Now let us speculate upon the probable causes and 
consider the length of time it takes to develop. The Eng¬ 
lish, basing their opinion largely upon animals out on pas¬ 
ture or confined in farm stables, seem to think that defective 
assimilation and mal-nutrition are the probable causes, and 
Prof. Williams in his Surgery, finishes his very able article 
on the subject by saying: “In all probability it will be dis¬ 
covered that the disease is due to the absence of some essen¬ 
tial ingredient of the food or its presence in such small quanti¬ 
ties as to be insufficient for the necessities of the animal, or the 
presence of some other ingredient in such super-abundance as 
to destroy the perfect composition of the aliment as a whole 
and thus render it unfit for assimilation, or so change it as to 
cause it to become even an irritant to the osseous system of 
the animal.” As I have not been able to find the subject re¬ 
ferred to in any other work at my command, I take it for 
granted that his views upon this disease are probably gener¬ 
ally accepted by English veterinarians. 
My experience with the disease, taking it from a practical 
point of view, compels me to question the soundness of Prof. 
