LAMINITIS AND ITS TREATMENT. 
83 
Compelling tlie animal affected witli acute laminitis to 
move about^ however cruel it at first sight may appear^ is also 
one of the noteworthy features in this system_, the bene¬ 
ficial effects of which I am ready to corroborate^ by two in¬ 
stances in particular. On the advance of the British army to 
Pekin in 1860^ shortly after disembarking at the Peiho, a num¬ 
ber of severe cases of laminitis in the fore feet occurred among 
the horses and mules in my charge. For several reasons I 
did not resort to the stereotyped paring and bleeding, but 
contented myself with removing the shoes, rasping the crusts 
of the hoofs to a level with the sole, and fastening on Japa¬ 
nese straw shoes or pads, which mainly rested against the 
frogs and filled up the space around them. By this means 
the inflamed laminae were at once relieved from the weight of 
the front part of the body, and as no poultices could be 
applied, the animals were driven, with great difficulty, from 
the camp lines to a running stream about half a mile off, 
where they were kept standing for a number of hours every 
day. This rough and ready treatment had the most astonish¬ 
ing success, the animals being fit for work in a few days, 
and the feet quite recovering in every instance. Had the 
soles been mutilated and blood abstracted from the toes, I am 
certain several of these cases must have been destroyed. I 
did not have another case to treat until about two months 
ago, when a horse that had been in low condition and unfit 
for severe exertion, was taken out to hounds and had a heavy 
day’s hunting, at the end of which he was ridden home nearly 
twenty miles on a bad road. The next day he was suffering 
from a most acute attack of laminitis in both fore feet, and 
lay groaning in the greatest agony. The Chinese treatment 
was pursued. Cherry’s footpads taking the place of the Japa- 
nese sandals, and in the absence of a running stream immer¬ 
sion in buckets of cold water, and the application of cold bran 
poultices being resorted to, while the horse was allowed but 
little rest. The result was as favorable as on active service. 
On the third or fourth day an hour’s exercise was pre¬ 
scribed, and in ten days the horse was in the hunting field. 
The beneficial effects of movement during laminitis have 
been already noted on the Continent, and particularly in 
Prance. M. Bouley,* in an excellent article published in 
1862, and to which I would beg to refer those who complain 
of the unsatisfactory descriptions of the malady, says that 
it is known that progression is an immediate and very 
efficacious means, if not very durable in its effects, of facili- 
^ ‘Nouveau Diciionnaire Pratique, &c., Veterinaires,’ vol. vii, art. 
“ Pourbure.” 
