THE HORSE’S FOOT. 
325 
most, takes a character of persistency which, in most cases, ends 
in absolute incurability. To properly study chronic laminitis we 
must observe it when the alterations which characterize it are 
accomplished. When we have completed the consideration of 
the pathological changes we will examine the intermediate period, 
and discuss the mechanism by which these alterations take place 
in relation to the pathological anatomy. 
The first thing observed is the change of form in the hoof. 
The nail of a horse’s foot easily recalls the form of a Chinese 
shoe. (Knollhuf of Germany.) The hoof seems to have lost its 
varnish and its suppleness in the points corresponding to the dis¬ 
eased parts. It is, besides, brittle, and seems to have lost part of 
its connection with the remaining parts of the foot, and there is 
a change in the direction of the wall, the fibres of which, instead 
of being oblique to the ground, assume an almost horizontal 
direction. The foot seems as if flattened from above downwards, 
and the lines which bound its surface form a well-marked obtuse 
angle with that of the coronary region. The anterior wall of the 
foot also forms a well-marked projection forward, from which re¬ 
sults a great exaggeration of the antero-posterior diameter of the 
nail with the transverse diameter and the oval form of the horny 
box. The external surface of the wall, instead of being smooth, as 
in physiological conditions, presents, on the contrary, a roughened 
appearance, which results from the presence of circles of ridges 
and circular grooves, placed one above the other and extending 
from one heel to the other. A remarkable peculiarity is here ob¬ 
served in the fact that in the anterior part of the nail the circles 
are quite near each other, while, on the contrary, upon the lateral 
parts they are separated by much wider grooves. When, then, 
at the toe, the wall has some difficulty in growing downwards, on 
account, probably, of the internal adhesions between the podo- 
phyllous and keraphyllous tissues; the heels, on the contrary, grow 
without difficulty, and thus obtain a relative height superior, and 
sometimes even equal, to that of the toe. Often at the mammae 
and quarters of the foot contractions are seen, and longitudinal 
grooves running from the coronary band to the plantar surface, 
reminding one of the lesions met with in encastelure. 
