THE HORSE’S FOOT. 
45 
hoof becomes dry to excess, which gives rise to narrow and con¬ 
tracted feet. The lower part of the foot must be pared with care, 
as it has but little thickness ; the application of the warm shoe 
while fitting must be as short as possible. An ordinary thin and 
light shoe must be used ; the nails will be as light and thin as 
possible, and hammered in carefully. 
Too dry hoof is liable to break, because it has lost its physio¬ 
logical suppleness; this brittleness is often met in animals whose 
feet have been much in water and afterwards are placed on dry 
ground ; it seems as if the water had dissolved the adhesion of the 
horny cells. The same condition follows the excessive use of 
poultices and also of strong grease in shape of ointments. It is 
wise to grease, but previously the old crust must be removed. 
Hoof ointments of wax, turpentine, or tar are better. The foot 
is called derobe (broken) when by the use of a thick nail it is more 
or less broken at the edges of the wall. These feet lose the shoe 
easily; animals then go on bare feet, and then it becomes very 
difficult to put other shoes on. It is necessary in these cases to 
punch nail-holes on the shoe corresponding with parts where the 
hoof is sound. In paring, all the pieces of broken horn are re¬ 
moved, or at least as much as can safely be done. Nails are 
secured as high as possible; shoes must be changed as easily as 
possible, and the hoof is to be kept supple by uuctuous applica¬ 
tions. When the breaks of the horn are too large, softened gutta¬ 
percha, or a mixture of gutta-percha, three parts with one of 
gum ammoniac, melted together, can be used to till the anfrac- 
tuosities, all grease having been first removed by a wash with 
ether; those putties harden, and the shoe can be tacked on sol¬ 
idly. Nails can even be punched through the gutta-percha. 
{To be continued.) 
While we are free to admit the infection, to some extent, of 
American pork with trichinae, the report of t 1 '. H, Mason, United 
States Consul at Basle, Switzerland, seems to prove that certain 
outbreaks of trichinosis, said to have arisen from eating Ameri¬ 
can pork, in reality were due to eating the raw or imperfectly 
cooked tiesh of German and French swine. 
