390 
TREATMENT OF LAMINITIS. 
Theory is the ruin of my practice^, so far as the experience of 
disease goes. 
A word as to the 1865 case I quoted as a practical example 
of my method of treatment. It w^as one of those cases in 
which Mr. Broad would^ I think, have unhesitatingly given 
an opinion adverse to the existence of the animal. The 
horse could not have been fitted with his two pound shoes: 
even now he could not carry them; he had not crust sound 
enough to sustain the weight of a four ounce shoe, and of 
course we had to wait until enough grew down to hold four 
or five very small nails. This growth does not usually take 
place in this part of the world in from two to six weeks, and 
I am sure Mr. Broad^s shoes could not be retained without 
nails. With common sense treatment, feet which have the 
soles convex will more or less recover their original form; 
but, for the reasons given above, I should never for a moment 
think of effecting this by paring, and the application of heavy 
shoes. The system is opposed to theory, and, so far as I have 
witnessed, has proved unsuccessful in practice. 
I trust Mr. Broad will not think, for a moment, that the 
remarks I have made on his method of treating laminitis 
have been advanced in a captious spirit. Nothing has been, 
or is, further from my intention. My only object at first was 
to support his views, in so far as they related to a portion of 
his treatment, with which I was acquainted practically, and 
otherwise. If the discussion has led me beyond this, I trust 
it has been none the less useful. Many valuable papers are 
constantly appearing in the pages of the Veterinarian, and 
which are passed by without comment, but which would be 
greatly enhanced if discussed and analysed, and in this way 
made more noteworthy and profitable to the members of the 
profession generally. 
However widely we may differ in our practice, I am sure 
I know Mr. Broad far too well, and value his friendship far 
too highly, to imagine for an instant that he would put any 
other construction on my motives in this discussion, than 
that which should ever actuate us in advancing our 
useful science, the welfare of which we both have so much at 
heart. 
