820 
LA.MINITIS AND NAVICULAR DISEASE. 
disease in the interior of the bone. In some few, as you 
very correctly observe, ulceratibn of the surface exists ; this 
latter state may be the result of severe compression or con¬ 
cussion, but I do not believe it is necessarily so. In the 
next place, let us examine the— 
Post-mortem Evidence . 
In 1855, when I wrote my former papers on laminitis, I 
made numerous examinations of feet affected with this dis¬ 
ease. During the interim I have never ceased to feel a deep 
interest in the subject, and have frequently procured the feet of 
some familiar cripple after death; and now, again, during the 
last six months I have selected at the knackers' yards about 
a dozen of the worst cases of convex feet, and carefully ex¬ 
amined them: and what do I find? Do I find evidences of 
destroyed laminae at some former period, the hoof or sole 
attached to the bone by some scirrhous structures in the 
place of laminae? No, nothing of the kind; I find beau¬ 
tiful, fine, delicate laminae, perfect to all appearance. There 
is, however, in every case, outside the horny laminae,— 
between it and the crust—a defective state of horn, like an 
extensive seedy toe, but besides this there is a wasting of the 
bone; I never have seen a case in which the bellying out, or 
bulging, of the under surface of the coffin-bone was not the 
most prominent characteristic, and the bone very much 
roughened upon its anterior and superior surfaces. That 
beautiful arch, described by Mr. Gaingee, at page 78 of 
the Veterinary Review , has been broken down. The horny 
sole and the bony structure, having become defective in firm¬ 
ness, have yielded to superincumbent pressure. I refer 
you to the paper I have alluded to, also to page 20 5, 
and all the other papers on the foot by the same author, 
as being the best productions in our own literature. In 
my examinations into the navicular joint of numbers of well- 
known old cripples, cases that all experienced practitioners 
would call chronic navicular disease, it has been found that 
a morbid state has existed involving the whole of the parts, 
causing thickening and stiffness, and general rigidity in the 
soft parts, and wasting in the bones. In only a limited 
proportion of them have I found evidences of disease having- 
existed at all in the outer circumference of the bone itself. 
I remain, &c. 
To W. Williams, Esq., Y.S. 
