384 WEST OF SCOTLAND VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 
Mr. Pottle asked why in the human subject patients did not 
swell in the legs ? 
Mr. Robinson —(Edema is very common in the human subject. 
Mr. Pottle —(Edema, according to my theory, takes place from 
impediment of the venous circulation. The venous circulation is 
influenced by gravitation, compression of muscle, &c., and when 
a vein is injured the circulation in the part immediately behind 
becomes impeded, and all the neighbouring plexuses become 
congested and cause oedema. 
Mr. McLean remarked with regard to cracked heels, that if 
you allow a horse's heels to be washed and not dried, he will be apt 
to become affected. Would a concrete of wax, or some such 
article, not be useful as a preventive of cracked heels ? 
Mr. Robinson —I do not think it would do good, but rather 
aggravate the disease, as dirt would collect on the part. 
Mr. Anderson —It is only a certain class of horses (well bred) 
which suffer from cracked heels in consequence of exposure to 
wet and cold. Some rough Clydesdale horses are in the habit 
of fording rivers daily for years, and show no symptoms of 
cracked heels. 
Mr. Robinson —Certain horses in Greenock have to ford rivers, 
and are not injured by so doing. 
Mr. Anderson —I know a gentleman who purchased a great 
many horses which were suffering from grease and cracked heels, 
and cured some of them by making them walk in the salt water 
on the shore. 
Mr. Pollock next drew attention to a peculiar case of partial 
paralysis of the hind extremity, which had lately come under his 
notice. The animal dropped suddenly; the pulse rose to 90 ; 
the urine was of natural colour. 
Mr. Sharp remarked that about three weeks ago an animal 
which had been under his treatment for paralysis died. The post¬ 
mortem examination presented atrophy of the right kidney. The 
left one, however, was fully three times its natural size. The 
right one also contained some clotted blood. 
Mr. Anderson —Allow me now to bring before you a case of 
some interest which I had some time ago under treatment. A 
thorough-bred horse had an abscess on the inner side of the thigh. 
I had him cast, and opened the abscess. Six days after, he died, 
when a post-mortem examination revealed a large clot of blood 
around the right kidney, and also a rupture of Glysson's capsule 
of the liver. Haemorrhage had taken place. Casting had probably 
injured the liver. 
Mr. Pottle —I had the opportunity of seeing a peculiar case in 
a cow of a swelling on the pubic region. It had been opened by 
the owner previously to my seeing it, and a large quantity of 
