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 Webster Family Library of Veterinary IWedlcine 
 Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at 
 Tufts University 
 
TUFTS UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 
 
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 3 9090 013 414 012 
 
 AlSr ADDRESS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 Natural History and Pathological Osteology 
 
 L 
 
 OF 
 
 THE HORSE, 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE 
 
 THE ANNUAL MEETING 
 
 Ooimecticiit Board of Agriculture, 
 
 AT MIDDLETOWN, JANUARY, 1870, 
 
 By N. CRESSY, M. D. 
 
 ii_ii_iXjst:e=l ^^teid 
 
 HARTFORD: 
 
 CASE, LOCKWOOD & BRAINARD, PRINTERS. 
 
 1870. 
 
AN ADDRESS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 Natural History and Pathological Osteology 
 
 OF 
 
 THE HORSE, 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE 
 
 THE ANNUAL MEETING 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Connecticut Board of Agriculture, 
 
 AT MIDDLETOWN, JANUARY, 1870, 
 By N. CRESSY, M. D. 
 
 IIjXjXJSTI=I..^TEID . 
 
 HARTFORD: 
 
 CASE, LOCKWOOD & BRAINARD, PRINTERS. 
 
 1870. 
 
^fo 
 
[Extracted from Procedings of Conn. Ag. Society, 1870.] 
 
 The Natural History and Pathological Osteology 
 
 OP 
 
 THE HOESE. 
 
 By N. Cressy, M. D. 
 Lecture delivered January 14th, 1870. 
 
 The horse, in all ages of the world, has been the esteemed 
 servant of man both in war and in peace. And to the 
 scientific inquirer it is also an object of interest. For this 
 noble creature and its aUied species, not only afford the 
 veterinarian an opportunity of investigating certain rare plie- 
 nomena of disease otherwise unknown in the history of the 
 Healing Art, but they enable the naturalist to study the inti- 
 
4 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 
 
 mate relations which these few surviving species hold to their 
 fossil ancestors, whose remains are profusely strewn in the 
 diluvial strata of the earth. 
 
 The domestic horse, zoologically speaking, is known as the 
 Equus cahalhts, and was classed by Cuvier with the other 
 thick-skinned and non-ruminating mammals in that compre- 
 hensive order Pachydermata ; but which Professor Owen has 
 very justly subdivided on account of the three-fold variety in 
 the special details of structure thus included, and has placed 
 the horse together with all those hoofed animals which have 
 an odd number of toes, either one or three, in his well-chosen 
 order Perissodaclyla, in contradistinction to his even-toed 
 order, Artiodaclyla^ to which our cattle, deer, sheep, and 
 swine belong. 
 
 The two preceding orders will be found, by a careful 
 analysis, to constitute a natural and well-marked anatomical 
 division of all the hoofed quadrupeds, both recent and fossil. 
 In view of which fact, naturalists have endeavored to trace 
 the ancestry of our equine and bovine races back to the 
 ancient prototypes of these two orders, which flourished ex- 
 tensively during an earlier epoch of creation. 
 
 But in passing we would observe that though the Gnu or 
 " horned-horse" of Africa, very much resembles the wild 
 prairie horse in its general bodily conformation, jQt it is found, 
 by a moment's inspection, to have a divided hoof and all tlie 
 characteristic features of the antelope family, to which it 
 belongs. 
 
 The history of the horse-family is veiled in remote antiquity. 
 Fossil remains of several extinct, but closely allied species, 
 have been found in the Tertiary deposits on both sides of the 
 Atlantic. 
 
 There is a fossil skull of an extinct horse, Equus nomadicus^ 
 in the British Museum, taken by Messrs. Falconer & Cautley 
 from the Miocene formations in the Sewalk Mountains of 
 India, associated with the remains of gigantic Pachyderms, 
 Ruminants, and other extinct mammals, showing that the 
 horse in its pcdeontological lineage antedates the lapse of his- 
 toric time. But the most ancient representative of the fossil 
 
HORSES. 5 
 
 liorso was undoubtedly the Equus primigenius of Meyer, and 
 which was also called Hlppotlierium gracile by Wagner. It 
 ranged from the Himalayas to the Alps, and existed from the 
 Miocene period, geologically speaking, to the Diluvium, or the 
 recent formations. The limbs of a fossil pony, if such we 
 may call it, were discovered in the upper Tertiary clay of 
 Nebraska, at Antelope Station, on the line of the Union 
 Pacific Railroad, in 1868, which were carefully examined and 
 described by Prof. 0. C. Marsh, of New Haven, who believed 
 that the restored skeleton of this species would not exceed 
 two and a half feet in heiglit ; and therefore very appropriate- 
 ly named it Equiis imrvulus^' This is the seventeenth species 
 of fossil horse now known to have been indigenous to this 
 continent. Numerous teeth and fragmentary portions of the 
 so-called Uquus fossilis, wliicli undoubtedly included several 
 species that were closely allied to the present horse, have been 
 discovered in the Drift in various parts of Europe and 
 America. 
 
 Thus it will be seen that the geographical distribution of 
 the Equidae in a former period of the earth's history, was 
 very extensive in both hemispheres. But it is believed by 
 Professor Owen, Darwin, and other distinguished naturalists, 
 that this family had been entirely blotted out of tlie Fauna of 
 our part of the globe ere the fall of the footstep of man had 
 been heard. According to this view the horse became extinct 
 in North America cotemporary with the Mammoth, and in 
 Soutli xVmerica with the Megatherium. For it is alleged 
 that the remains of the primitive horses of the New World 
 lie intermingled in the same geological strata with these huge 
 quadrupeds, and no intermediate species are found in tlie 
 later formations, thus intimating that the wild liorses of to- 
 day upon our pampas and prairies, were introduced here in 
 the state of domestication by the Spanish colonies in the fif- 
 teenth century. While on the other hand it is claimed that 
 the recent discoveries in Paleontology seem to indicate that 
 
 ^American Journal of Science and Arts, vol. XL VI, Xovember, 1868. 
 See Owen's Paleontology, and his History of the British Fossil Mammalia, 
 and also the article Equidai in Knight's Cyelopadia of Natural History. 
 
BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. 
 
 the equine race lias been continuous upon the continent from 
 the earliest fossil representatives of this type of animals to 
 those of the present day. But further evidence will be re- 
 quired in order to decide such an important question. Yet 
 we can see no valid reason why this race may not have con- 
 tinued here in the same unbroken series as it appears to have 
 done in the Old World. 
 
 But naturalists are agreed that there is no aboriginal or 
 truly wild breed of horses now known to exist in any part of 
 the globe ; and this is also corroborated by the observations 
 of Oriental travelers, who believe that the wild horses of the 
 East were once domesticated animals. 
 
 Hence we see that the origin of the domestic horse is veiled 
 in great obscurity, and thus becomes one of the most interest- 
 ing problems of Natural History. Thomas Bell, in his His- 
 tory of the British Quadrupeds, claims that the Egyptians 
 were probably the first to break the proud spirit of this noble- 
 animal, and reduce it to obedience and servitude. While 
 others believe that the primitive horse was first domesticated 
 in Asia. 
 
 The horse, in its special details of structure, reverts to that 
 primitive type of three-toed quadrupeds which appeared upon 
 
 rijrure 1. 
 
 the earth among the earliest of the Tertiary mammals, and 
 which have, therefore, been very fitly characterised as the 
 Paleotherna. or ancient wild beasts. These animals walked 
 
 This plate is copied from Owen's Compai*ative Anatomy. 
 The feet of the Horse, Ilipparion and Pahoptcrium. 
 
HORSES. 7 
 
 upon their three toes, which correspond to the second, third, 
 and fourth rows in the pentadactyle, or five fingered hand, 
 as seen at Fig. 1 a. But these Paleotheres eventually faded 
 away (at the close of the Eocene period), and were succeeded 
 (in the Miocene) by another tri-dactylous quadruped, which, 
 on account of its general resemblance to the horse, as shown 
 by its fossil bones, has been called the liipparion. And, 
 although this horse-like animal had three toes upon each foot, 
 the same as its predecessors, yet upon the hard ground it 
 really walked upon one, the same as the horse does, inasmuch 
 as the outer toes had become considerably shortened, and re- 
 duced in size, as is seen at Fig. 1 b. 
 
 The dentition, as well as the close resemblance of the feet, 
 point to a transitional position, which the hipparion must have 
 occupied in the " survival of the fittest " between the paleo- 
 theres and the modern horse. And, believing that this same 
 process of " derivative" m6dification may have been carried 
 still further, we should ultimately expect to find a creature in 
 which those outer toes were wholly wanting ; and this is 
 really the case in all the equine species. Fig. 1 c. " Thus 
 the succession in time," says Professor Owen,* " accords 
 with the gradational modifications by which paleotherium is 
 linked on to equus." 
 
 Hence we see that the so-called " splint-bones," in the 
 limbs of the horse are simply the rudiments of those lateral 
 toes in the tridactyle feet of their ancient predecessors. 
 But occasionally we find a horse with these supplementary 
 ancestral hoofs. " In one of the latest examples," says Pro- 
 fessor Owen,f " the inner splint-bone, answering to the 
 second metacarpal of the pentadactyle foot, supported pha- 
 langers and a terminal hoof, in position and proportion to the 
 middle hoof, resembling the corresponding one in hipparionJ^ 
 
 Such examples of tridactyle feet in the horse, though 
 usually regarded as " monsters," clearly illustrate the natu- 
 ral law of hereditary descent. 
 
 There is a great variety in the form of the limbs, or ambu- 
 
 * See his closing chapter on the Anatomy of Vertebrates, vol. iii. 
 
 tin his Comparative Anatomy and Physiology of Vertebrate Animals,l vo. iii, 
 
8 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 
 
 latoiy appendages of vertebrate animals. In the fm of the 
 fish, which is analagous to the human arm, there is a multi- 
 plicity of rays, but higher in the series the number is reduced 
 to five phalangial rows, of which the monodactyle foot of the 
 horse is the lowest expression, and answers to the middle 
 finger of the human hand. 
 
 The law by which these toes are lost is interesting to us, 
 as well marked examples of such modifications are found in 
 the domestic animals. The first to disappear is the thumb, 
 then we have a four-toed foot like the hog and the deer. 
 Next, the fifth row, or little finger is lost, and this leaves the 
 tridactyle foot, which we have already considered. 
 
 Having thus briefly pointed out a few facts concerning the 
 natural history of the horse, let us now turn our attention to 
 another department of our subject, which, I trust, will be far 
 more interesting to those who have the guardianship of this 
 noble animal. But as it is not bur mission on this occasion 
 to treat of the general maladies of the equine system we will 
 limit our inquiries to the pathological, or diseased conditions 
 of the bones, and of some of the adjacent tissues. 
 
 Comparative anatomists have clearly shown that the entire 
 series of vertebrate animals, including man, are built upon 
 the same general plan of structure. The chemist has assured 
 us that the bones of all animals are composed of the same 
 proximate principles, or ingredients, though the relative quan- 
 tities of these several principles vary considerably in the dif- 
 ferent types, orders, and species. And the physiologist has 
 conclusively proved by his microscopic examinations that the 
 blood of fishes, reptiles, birds, and mammals, contains the 
 sanle anatomical granules and cells as is found in the blood 
 of man. Now, in view of all these facts, why may we not 
 suppose that the domestic animals are afflicted with the same 
 diseases as we are, differing only in degree ? 
 
 Upon this basis we shall inquire into the pathological oste- 
 ology of the horse, though we do not expect to find all those 
 loathsome diseases of the bones in the equine system which 
 so frequently visit the frail body of mortal man. 
 
 The diseases of the bones maybe divided into three classes. 
 First, we will consider those diseased conditions which affect 
 
HORSES. . -' 
 
 the nutrition of the bones, and thus compromise the utility of 
 the part. A healthy bone is composed of organic and inor- 
 ganic matter, which is united in certain dciinite proportions 
 though they relatively vary with age. In certain diseased 
 conditions of the sysLem there is a want of tlie earthy salts, 
 phosphate and carbonate of lime, in the blood, and hence the 
 bones are deprived of their solidity, and soon become dis- 
 torted, as is seen in Rickets. But, on the other hand, there 
 may be a surplus quantity of this earthy matter deposited in 
 the bones, and thus render them extremely brittle, like the 
 fragility of old ngc. Or an undue absorption of these earthy 
 salts may take place, and a softened bone be the result. Tliis 
 disease is known as " moUities osseum,'^ and though Of rare 
 occurrence either in the Inunan or equine system, yet it is fre- 
 quently seen in our New England cows in the form of " cripple 
 ail," especially in our hill farms, where the soluble phos- 
 phates have become nearly exhausted from the soil. The 
 desire which cows usually manifest in such localities to chew 
 bones is a clear index to the kind o^ fertilizers which those 
 lands most need. The free use of ground bone on such farms 
 will effectually cure this Osleomania, and will also prove a 
 potent lemedy when mixed with the feed to restore this fresh 
 and crippled condition of our milch cows. 
 
 Again, both the organic and inorganic elements may become 
 partially absorbed, and tlius constitute a case of atrophy^ or 
 perisliing of the bone. But this disease is usually local in 
 cliaracter. 
 
 The second class of bone diseases includes those which in- 
 volve the tissue in a simple or scrofulous inflammation. But 
 we will only notice under tiiis division those two very com- 
 mon affections which are known to pathologists as Necrosis 
 and Caries. The first of these, as the word implies, is the 
 death of a bone or any part of it, attended by a regenerative 
 process, established at the time coeval with the inflammation 
 or injury which deprives it of vitality. In this respect it is a 
 singular disease, and has nothing analagous to it in the aflec- 
 tions of the soft parts. V/liile Caries in its degenerative pro- 
 cess is very similar to the ulceration of the muscular tissues. 
 
lO • BOARD OF A(mi CULTURE. 
 
 In Necrosis a portion of bone dies, which is called a sequestrum^ 
 and is snrrounded by livhig or germinal matter that will sup- 
 ply the place of this diseased portion when it shall have been 
 removed by carious ulceration or by a surgical operation. 
 Fortunately necrosis is a rare disease in tlie equine system, 
 though very common, as we have before observed, in man. It 
 presents a solitary example of an effort on the part of nature 
 to counteract or provide against the ravages of disease. In 
 this respect it becomes a very interesting subject of inquiry. 
 
 Exostosis is the principal disease in tlie third class that we 
 shall attempt to describe on this occasion. And of all the 
 organic maladies of the horse, this is, by far, the most com- 
 mon and the one, in view of cure, tlie most dreaded by the 
 veterinarian. In its origin it is eitlier acute or hereditary, 
 and in both cases may be transmitted from generation to gen- 
 eration with increasing severity, and thus ultimately ruin the 
 entire family stock. 
 
 By the term Exostosis we mean an extra bony growth, -or 
 tumor, which necessarily involves the periosteum or the cover- 
 ing of the bone. In this respect we shall radically diifer from 
 the views of Dr. Porter, who claims (in his article on the 
 pathological conditions of bone, in the Cyclopaedia of Anatomy 
 and Physiology) that the periosteum is not affected in this 
 disease, but we will not stop to discuss the matter here, for 
 an appeal to the facts concerning its genesis will satisfy even 
 the doubting mind of every earnest inquirer. In a case of 
 acute exostosis, or where it is primarily developed without 
 any hereditary predisposition on the part of the immediate 
 parentage ; this disease usually occurs as the result of an in- 
 jury, either from a blow or a strain. An inflammation follows 
 and an extra quantity of blood, laden with salts of lime, is 
 brought to the part, and thus the periosteum and the surround- 
 ing tissues is thoroughly congested. Eventually the phos- 
 pliate and car'uonate of lime becomes deposited within the 
 periosteum at the seat of injury, and a hard, unyielding, 
 bony tumor is the inevitable result. In fact, ringbone^ splint, 
 and spavin are only different names of the result of this same 
 morbid process of bony growth. All of these affections may 
 
HORSES. 
 
 11 
 
 Fifrurc 2. 
 
 be developed from similar exciting causes or from an inherited 
 constitutionality. 
 
 Every bone in the normal condition of nutrition grows 
 large by the deposition of new material upon its external sur- 
 face through the instrumentality of the periosteum. And 
 
 any agency which will increase the 
 flow of blood to that part and thus 
 unduly excite the action of this mem- 
 brane, will cause this excessive and 
 morbid production of bone. But 
 there is evidently a certain peculiar- 
 ity in the general nutrition of the 
 body, favorable to the production of 
 this disease ; for it is often seen, 
 even fearfully developed, in the colt 
 at an early age, where no external 
 or exciting cause could have played 
 its part. Such a condition of the 
 system might well be termed, in the 
 language of pathology, an exosfosi- 
 cat diathesis. 
 
 Though every bone in the skeletal 
 frame-work of the horse is liable to 
 an attack of exostosis, yet the joints 
 are the most frequently the seat 
 
 "Chest Founder." 
 
 of this disease. In 
 usually involves the 
 
 rheumatism, or '' founder. 
 
 which 
 periosteum of the bones of the 
 chest, you will occasionally find, upon post-mortem ex- 
 amination, that the lower end of the ribs and their appendages 
 are affected with this same malady. At Figure 2 will be seen 
 a case of ''chest-founder," so called, in which the first and 
 second ribs of the right side are firmly grown together, and 
 are attached by a bony union to the first rib of the opposite 
 side. This specimen was taken from a horse thirty years of 
 age, which was noted for its general usefulness, yet we imagine 
 that this creature must have suffered in its respiratory func- 
 tions, inasmuch as the anterior part of the thorax, or chest, 
 was a solid bone hoop. May not this form of the disease ac- 
 
12 
 
 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 
 
 count for many cases of "heaves," "short-breath," &c. ? 
 Such a case would not be amenable to any treatment, unless 
 taken in hand early and with a clear conception of the ap- 
 proaching malady. 
 
 Ringhone derives its name from the peculiar form which 
 this morbid growth of bone assumes when it attacks the pas- 
 tern joint ; a well marked example of which will be seen in 
 
 iMffure 3. 
 
 Ringbone. 
 
 the plate at Figure 3. The incidental causes of ringbone are 
 very numerous. Almost any injury received upon the pastern 
 bone may give rise to a more or less aggravated form of this 
 disease, if not promptly attended to, with perfect rest secured 
 for the animal. Such cases should be freely treated with 
 
 Figure 3. — Ringbone; a, upi?er pastern; h, lower pastern; c, coffin bone. 
 
HORSES. 13 
 
 quieting and cooling lotions, in view of arresting the conges- 
 tion or extra flow of blood to the part, that inevitably fol- 
 lows, as the result of injury, and which causes the swelling, 
 heat, and }3ain so grievous to be borne by the poor afflicted 
 animal. And as a remedy to alleviate the suffering and con- 
 trol the progress of the disease, I would earnestly recommend 
 a preparation of Colorless Iodine Liniment that I have used 
 for several years with marked success in human and veteri- 
 nary practice. Cases of hereditary ringbone that appear 
 early in a colt need no treatment, for their only cure consists 
 in hastening the anchylosis of the joint, which, of course, 
 forever obliterates the freedom of motion there, by soldering 
 the two articulating bones together in firm osseous union. 
 Even with such a cure the creature ceases to limp, because tlie 
 impaired motion of the joint that caused such excruciating 
 pain in walking has been destroyed. And though a horse 
 with such an impediment would readily stumble, and thus be 
 worthless for the turf, yet with careful usage upon light draft 
 it may be serviceable for many years. 
 
 Percival divides the causes of ringbone into three classes, 
 as follows, "hereditary, structural, and incidental"; the first 
 and last of which we have already noticed, and the second we 
 will now consider. Though the feet and limbs of all the 
 equine family contain the same number of muscles and bones, 
 yet the form and arrangement of these parts are not always 
 the same in all the various* breeds. In the race-horse the 
 pastern bones stand quite obliquely, as is seen in the Eclipse 
 at Figure 4, in order that the foot will rebound from the turf 
 with an elastic spring when vieing for the goal. Such con- 
 structed feet are not commonly the seat of ringbone, inas- 
 much as the weight of the body is not directly felt upon the 
 coffin-bones. But on the other hand, when the pasterns are 
 nearly erect, the heft of the body in the act of trotting, falls 
 as a dead weight upon the bones of the feet, and thus a con- 
 stant irritation is kept up in the periosteum of the part, until 
 a ringbone is the result. Hoises with such formed feet should 
 be carefullij used, and then, never upon the pavements. Such 
 examples illustrate that hereditary predisposition to ringbone, 
 
14 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. 
 
 splint, and spavin, which should ever be avoided in choosing 
 your breeding stock. 
 
 That disease which is known as '^ splint'''' is of very com- 
 mon occurrence, and yet it is not grave in its consequences 
 when not complicated by other diseases. It is very simple in 
 
 Fig. 4. 
 
 "Eclipse. 
 
 its nature, origin, and treatment; and consists in the grow- 
 ing of the splint-bone on to the cannon-bone by this same 
 morbid process of exostosis, which is usually the result of an 
 external injury. 
 
 The hind and forward limbs are alike subject to this dis- 
 ease. 
 
 " Splint " seldom occasions much lameness, except in its 
 primary stage, when the cushion of fibro-cartilage that is in- 
 terposed between the splint and cannon-bones becomes in- 
 volved in an ossific inflammation. But when these parts 
 are firmly united in bony union, no further pain or lameness 
 will be experienced by the creature. At this stage of the 
 disease treatment of course is useless ; but in the commence- 
 ment give the horse rest and apply cooling lotions to allay 
 the inflammation. 
 
 In a case of long standing, and even in one having a well- 
 
 *Photographed from the plate in Gamgee & Law's Veterinary Anatomy 
 
HORSES. 15 
 
 marked tumor, the pain and lameness may be relieved by the 
 moderate application of the tincture of cantharides. But some 
 cases will not recover until the Blister has been applied, 
 when that intervening cartilage will be converted into bone ; 
 then the cure is done. 
 
 When exostosis attacks the tarsus or instep just below tlie 
 hock-joint, it is called spavin. The first symptoms in this 
 form of the disease are not usually recognized in their true 
 light, and the horse is urged on in its daily toil until tlie pain 
 becomes so excruciating that the poor creature can no longer 
 endure such suffering. In a majority of cases this disease 
 occurs from hereditary transmission. It is more frequent 
 than ringbone, inasmuch as its predisposition is more easily 
 awakened by an exciting cause. » 
 
 The six bones of the tarsus are separated from each other 
 by a layer of inter-articulating cartilage, and the undue pres- 
 sure which is brought to bear upon tliis part of the limb when 
 the horse is heavily laden upon the ascending pavement, 
 causes more or less irritation, and tlius congestion and infiam- 
 niation ensues. 
 
 The first two tarsal bones tliat grow together in this disease 
 are those which anatomists have called the scaphoid and the en- 
 toeuniforyn. In fact it is rare to fiiid an old dray-horse in which 
 these bones are not consolidated in one, even when there is 
 no sign of disease among the otlier tarsal bones. But if the 
 disease is not arrested here, either by a resolution of Nature 
 or by treatment, it usually involves the adjoining parts in the 
 same inflammation, and thus ultimately anchylose the entire 
 tarsus, together with two splints and the cannon-bone, in firm 
 and indissoluble union. Such a case is beyond the help of 
 the Healing Art, and any attempt to '' cure'' will exhibit the 
 ignorance or deception of its vain pretender. 
 
 The general plan of treatment for Spavin is the same as 
 for Ringbone and other lorms of exostosis. In the early stage 
 of the disease is your onlij hope of cure. But when the dis- 
 ease has advanced to that degree where new bone begins to 
 be formed within tlie cartilage and periosteum, it is hard to 
 be controlled ; even then it may l)e partially arrested in its 
 
10 BOAJM) OF AGRICULTURE. 
 
 progress by the free use of iodine and coiinter-iiTitants, siicli 
 as the different preparations of Spanish Flies. 
 
 Blistering is a potent agent in judicious hands, but it must 
 not be used indiscriminately ; for many of its supposed cures 
 are nothing but an anchylosis of the joint, as was seen in the 
 case of the " cured " Ringbone, Figure 4. 
 
 The old adage that " an ounce of prevention is worth more 
 than a pound of cure,'' is constantly verified in stock raising. 
 And here let me impres? upon your minds that the only way 
 to ameliorate this diseased condition of the horse is to breed 
 from pure blooded animals, and occasionally interchange with 
 foreign stock. 
 
 Whenever it is your unhappy lot to have one of these poor 
 ai/liioted creatures, treat it with kind and humane care. And 
 be not imposed upon by the pretending," Horse Doctor," who 
 perchance may happen at your door, and earnestly assure you 
 that by the extracting of a certain " bladder " from the hor.'^e's 
 foot the Ringbone will bo forever cured. Believe it not, for 
 it is a baseless imposition. 
 
 Neitlicr listen to him who talks of a " leakage of the johit,' 
 and attempt to cure accordingly, for such assertions have no 
 foundation whatever. * 
 
 The nature, cause, and general treatment of all these affec- 
 tions have now been briefly indicated ; and henceforth it re- 
 mains for you to imbibe the useful and the good and apply it 
 to practice. 
 
Webster Family Library of Veterinary Medicine 
 Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at 
 Tufts University 
 200 Westboro Road