LAMINITIS AND ITS TREATMENT. 
259 
petition of the stimulant may not be required. The majo¬ 
rity of Mr. Broad’s cases of laminitis must have been parti¬ 
cularly mild ones if merely showing them the whip made 
them move. I have seen a good deal of punishment inflicted 
in making an animal with somewhat acutely inflamed feet 
travel half a mile to a stream. When we have tried the 
turpentine then we may be able to decide which is the 
best. 
It must be a source of discredit to myself, perhaps, but 
one of congratulation for the horses I have had in charge for 
more than eight years, as well as to the advantage of the 
public service, that I have had no cases of laminitis to treat; 
though I have seen a number treated. An army veterinary 
surgeon, unfortunately for his practical” reputation, is 
expected to be more skilled in prevention than cure ; and it 
appears I have been more successful in this respect than was 
judicious. By careful attention to the shoeing of my horses, 
. and allowing their frogs to come in contact with the ground 
as nature intended, but which I understand Mr. Broad does 
not believe in, my experience in the treatment of laminitis 
is likely to be extremely limited, so far as my own regiment 
is concerned. 
On active service, however, it is not always so easy to 
carry out preventive measures, especially when the. care of 
animals is entrusted to a mixed crew of all nations, and 
when they are shod by what are called native farriers. 
Such was the case in the example I gave of my experi¬ 
ence in China in 1860, when I had more cases of laminitis in 
six weeks than in all probability Mr. Broad has had since 
that period. I have already described my simple method of 
treatment; but I am not particularly anxious for an exten¬ 
sive experience of this kind. One case of disease well and 
leisurely observed was worth the whole seen in China, where 
there was scarcely time, and certainly not much inclination, to 
watch the result of treatment in individual cases from hour 
to hour. That case I briefly noticed in my remarks. If my 
experience of laminitis for many years before entering the 
army in larger towns than Bath, and subsequently during 
two campaigns, on shipboard and on shore, as well as its 
treatment under the most adverse circumstances, will not 
entitle me to a very humble opinion among the practical” 
men who have lived at home all their lives, then I confess I 
have been theorizing.” 
The cases Mr. Broad affords as examples of sole pres¬ 
sure are, I must confess, very telling ones. I am not sure 
that I ever read anything to equal them in the pages of the 
