248 
EDITORIAL. 
its rebellious character, and its resistance to all foims of treat¬ 
ment. Taking into consideration its inodes of appearance and 
the methods of its progress; its facility of development in an 
apparently healthy hoof; its metastatic character, shown in its 
disappearance from one foot only to be transferred to another, 
and its return to the same foot again, or its appearance in a dif¬ 
ferent one; and principally, the characters revealed by micro¬ 
scopic examination, of the discharge, and of the pathological 
structures of a foot thus affected—the theory of Plasse and Meg 
pin was for some time accepted as the correct one, and it was 
adjudged a place in the classification of parasitic affections 
Professor Nocard, of Alfort, has recently made some obseivations 
in the same direction, and while he is not yet prepared to defi 
nitely settle the question, he reports amongst his cases one espec 
ially, of a very interesting character, which in its results woul( 
seem quite confirmatory of the theory of micro-organism. Ii 
this case a valuable stallion had been for more than eight month; 
suffering with canker of the right fore foot. The lacunae of th« 
frogs and the sole was extensively diseased, the walls being un 
dermined to a large extent on the outside quarter and outside toe 
In fact, the disease had become so extended that the animal m 
quite unfitted for any kind of work by his excessive lameness 
Practitioners are aware that, as a rule, canker, even when extei 
sive, is seldom accompanied with lameness, and that it is onl 
present when the tissues are largely diseased. The treatmei 
followed by Prof. Nocard at his clinic was very simple, and m 
followed by such excellent results that it certainly recommenc 
itself to the practitioner. 
“ The foot being well pared, and the diseased structures we 
exposed, the animal was then secured in the stocks, with his rigl 
fore foot raised and tied up. Then an atomized spray was throw 
with force, forming a vapor of a solution of bichloride of mercui 
one part in one thousand (Van Svietten’s fluid). This was kef 
up continuously for two and a half hours. Waiting then f< 
about fifteen minutes, to allow the parts to dry, the dressing w 
concluded with the application for about ten minutes, of a po 
der of idoformed ether, made with the hand. The animal w 
