Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1877-03-30

+, withhold their tears, they will give some
thing better than tears-their prayers to th'
| Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Fathe
t OF mercies and the God of all comfort t.
Him who has promised to be the father o
the fatherless and the God of the widow
) that He will in His holy habitation remembel
you. pity you, and grant you the peace which
passeth all understanding.
Veterinary Science.
THE UNIVERSITY COURSE OF VETERINARY
LECTURES By PROF. CREsSY, AT THI
MEDICAL COLLEGE.
NO. VIII.
CONTRACTION OF THR HooF.
A not infrequent cause of founder is con.
traction of the hoOf. The horses loot is au
elastic structure to which the horny envel-
ope affords an elastic and compressible COW
ering and protection like that of the nail to
the human finger. The h0of contains more
or less mOisture-snd if il becomes unnat-
urally dried will shrink and harden, like a
dried and shrunken boot. The contraction
congresses the lsmin@ within, and pro-
duces Inflammation which may result in
one kind of founder. or in several other dis
eases, to be hereafter mentioned.
This drying of the hoof is likely to take
| plhSo III on uuuSubllt uII tlut III OubDoi,
or from long standing on dry stable floor
in Winter. 1t is to be remem bered that ma
ture never puts the horse on dry floor
with dry air circulating around the hoof
through the cracks. In wet time. or
when the horse is out at pasture. there is
no trouble from contraction. But when
your wagon wheels are shrinking and tires
and spOkes rattling. in q long dry tune.
then look out for your horses feet.
Blackslniths often occasion this trouble by
application Of hot shoes to the hOof. IL is
cheap way to make the shoe ft to let it burn
place for itself but it exhausts the moist
ure in the horn and contracts the hooi and
should never be permitted. The contrsc-
tlon may sometimes appear on one side OR
the other of the hoof-showing itself BY
following of the hoof on that side. This
commonly indicates that the foot is lifted
too high on one side BY the shoe or calk.
Moisten the hoof and set the shoe, so that
the foot shall stand square and right and
the trouble will disappear. There are vsri-
Gus popular remedies for contracted hoof-
| One Is human urine-s cheap but poor
liniment. Another is salt and water,
which may help for time; but il likely in
the end to increase the trouble az the salt Is
drying in its character. Pure rain water IL
the best application. Shower the feet when
! y.
Moisture promotes the growth of the horn
and We see the results of it in excessive
growth of the toe in cows and sheep. and in
loot rot 10 the latter. Ii should be clean
| moisture. To stand on fermenting manure
is not good for the foot
| There ~ an ointment, recommended by
Prot. Gamgee, which IS good to prevent
evaporation. made Of equal parts OF sweet
oil. pine tar and mutton tsllow. to which
| little bees wax may be added il it is desirable
to make it harder. This. if the hOof is
coated with it, will soften the horn and
prevent its driving.
Excessive dryness OF the frog leads to con-
traction. The frog is spOngy substance
half way between horn and flesh, which
acts like sponge to hold moisture and
keep the foot in order. The frog should
not be kept away from the ground; but
should always come down to it. in order
that it may gather moisture. 1t should not
be pared away, nor should the shoe be per-
mltted to cover or enerOach upon 1t.
The condition of the frog and hOoi in
cases of contraction may be much helped
by packing the bottom of the foot with u
mixture OF oil meal and pine-ta mOistened.
This will stay in some time, 10 the stable
Ii the horse must be used, the packing may
still be retained by strips OF sheet-iron.
sprung under the shoe. The packing should
be kept up till the frog loses its scaly and
dried appearance and the bottom of the loot
looks SQUAD. dark and healthy. In allud-
ing To shueing. the lecturer remarked upon
the frequent abuse OF horses foot by faulty
pairing. The heel IL much softer than
the toe that blacksmiths sIe apt TO pare
down the heels too much and to leave the
toe not sufficiently trimmed This should
be avoided.
Before the commencement of this lecture,
President Buckham announced tLat, in
order that no medical student should be
deprived of the opportunity to hear these
lectures, the fee OF five dollars, heretofore
fixed for the course would not be required
but all were free TO come and bring thrir
friends with them. In consequence, there
was an accession to the class Of about sixty
medical students.
SAvIcULAR ARTuKITIs.
Prof. Cressy said that in The foot of the
horse We have three bones and three joints
The bones are the pedal, OF cUfhn hone the
navicular, or shuttle bone, and the corOnet
or lower pastern. The joints are first the
coffin JOINT, or joining of the pedal and the
eoronet homes; next the nsVieulo-peda
joining the shuttle and pedal bones, and
the navIculo- coroner joining the shuttle and |
euronet bones.
Ia founder. the horse steps out striking |
his feet on his heels In navicul4r arthritis
the horse steps short and on his toes, like a |
man who Is groggy, and the name has |
come TO be very generally adopted. some OF
the best Scotch authorities naming 1t
This disease may be induced by outward
injury, as by stepping on angular stones a.
in roads paved with trap rock, when
point of stone may he driven between the
frog and the hoot, giving direct injury to
the large ligament, Causing Inflammation,
exudatiOn and suppuratIon, which. remain
ing N long time. works down through the
bottom Of the loot, giving diseased CON
diIiOn known - thrush, and this. alter
loug standing, may become n fstula. In
describing this, the lecturer remarked that
the frog is about half a. hard As the sole,
and the sule about halt as hard As the hoof.
Such cases as these cannot be cured by
applying some wash on q little ointment or
by the treatment of some qnack who pro-
misses that the trouble can be cured in
twenty-luu hours. Ii is necessary to apply
the knlle, making clean, clear opening
into tho cavity where the injury had its
origin, and then solution of csrbolic acid.
made by dissOlving the crystals. should be
I
can be done when the loot is down by hsv-
ing the nose OF the syringe slightly crooked.
Sometimes the sore appears back of and
above tho boot in such cases it IL not a
primary disease, but trouble resulting |
from either laminitis or naviculsr srthritis.
Horses having tender. spongy feet. and
straight pastern are more liable TO this last
disease. A hard, well-rounded foot with an
obique pastern, will rarely show this
trouble except from some mechanical injury,
the ublique pastern, neceSsitatipg a strong
tendon for its support and thus sffording
a better protection to tho shuttle bone.
This disease may also be in some measure
hereditary, induced by breeding from horses !
in an unhealthy condition. One English )
Veterinarian gives an instance where all |
three OF these JOINTS were entirely joined |
hose dlseases-laminitls or founder, and
nayIcLlar arthritis, ori naviculitls-mav he
alleylated by mode of shoeing which
would give relief to the inhsmed parts and
aid the cure. The foot should be shod ;
with a shoe having cslks OF equal height sill c
around. In shoeing ioundered horse tho
toe should be raised high BY toe calk and
there should be no heel calks. In shoeing
ur navicular arthritls the heels should be
high with no toe calk. In these Gases I
three e-lourths of an inch Is not too much n
hc heel and toe. h
No. NI. :
CnksT FOUNDER.
Chest iounder il simply s;rophy OF the b
muscles of the chest. II horse IN fine CON b
iIIInn. iull chested, with good muscles, has ii
IN attack ut navIcular aTthrIII$, AtrOphy ur n
sastIns OF the muscles Ui the shoulder and q
shrunkCn chest Is likely to be the cOnse- d
luence. The trouble il that the horse has a
rot stepped natural STRIP perhaps tor
ear. AID having no Use Tor the extensur