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On the Mechanical Treatment of Defective Hoof
52
GENERAL ARTICLES.
comparing these with our own sections we found that the two presented exactly the same appearances. vVe then concluded that the three cases we have described were the victims of swine erysipelas;' and though we have not proved this experimentally, there can hardly be any doubt that our cases were of the same nature as those so ably investigated by Dr M'Fadyean. \Ve showed one of the hearts with sections stained by Gram's method and also one of Professor Bang's sections for comparison in the Bacteriological Museum at the International Congress of Hygiene held in London last August.
ON THE
MECHANICAL TREATMENT DEFECTIVE HOOF.
OF
By Veterinary Captain F. SMITH, Professor, Army Veterinary School, Aldershot. By defective hoof I mean disease of the horny wall leading to loss of substance or fissures, and this is the only form of defect which I purpose dealing with. Taking seedy toe as a well-marked example of defective hoof, we find that the loss of substance caused by the removal of the diseased wall may extend nearly as high as the coronet or only an inch or so from the ground. In days gone by I treated this by rest, blisters to the coronet, wet applications to the feet, etc., and often after months of patience one was rewarded by a sound hoof being formed. Within the last few years I have worked on different lines. Although I take away the hoof as freely as before (and no doubt this constitutes the essence in the treatment of seedy toe), I no longer find it necessary to throw a horse out of work because the front of his foot is taken ,away, for I fit over the excised portion a metal plate and screw it on to the wall of the hoof; this at once restores the natural shape of the part, affords protection to the horny lamince, confines the dressing in its place, and leaves the horse nearly as useful as before.
I attach a drawing of one of the last cases of seedy toe treated in this way. The disease extended nearly to the coronet and well back
GENERAL ARTICLES.
53
into one quarter; the whole of the separated wall was removed (I always saw it out, it saves half-an-hour's cutting, and finish off with the knife), and every particle of the peculiar dust removed. A tracing of the ground surface of the foot is then made on a piece of paper, and the place marked where the wall can best take the nails; this ensures greater accuracy in fit than a farrier will carry out when he has to go to the foot several times to fit a shoe, and, moreover, we know that the nail holes are placed in the best position where the wall is sound. The nej{t step is to take the bearing of the sole off the shoe from opposite to where the wall has been removed, and this is done by filing out the place on the foot surface of the shoe to the required extent. The shoe is now put on, resting only on the sound portion of
wall. A thin plate of sheet iron is next shaped to the wall of the foot, and cut to correspond with the diseased part removed, but left sufficiently large to be screwed into the sound wall; the holes for the screws are countersunk, for which purpose the plate must have sufficient substance; it may now be fitted hot to the wall so as to form a bed for itself and lie perfectly flush with the natural wall. The bed having been formed, the next thing to attend to is that the plate does not quite touch the shoe; this is to prevent any strain being placed on the screws; the whole may now be screwed on by short steel screws, which run in easier if first dipped in oil. The direction taken by the screws is a matter of some importance; if screwed into the wall obliquely they have a longer, and therefore stronger, hold than if simply screwed in straight; by observing the thickness of the wall we are going to work on, we can judge of the length of screw required. Before the plate is finally put in position the dressing is introduced, not so tightly as to press on the sensitive lamin::e, and yet sufficient of it to keep dirt working up from below. I use ordinary tar and tow for this purpose. When the operation is completed the defective wall is not only perfectly protected, but to all appearances restored, and the horse goes to work. Every week the plate is removed to examine the part (the screws do not rust in because they are previously oiled), and fresh dressing introduced.
54
GENERAL ARTICLES.
In this way the case goes on from week to week, the plate being gradually shortened as the hoof grows down, until at last it can be completely left off. The advantages of this method of treatment over the old system hardly need pointing out, the great gain being that, though we treat the wall by radical excision, yet the horse need not be laid up for a single day. I treat toe sand-cracks and defects in the wall of the hoof caused by injuries to the coronet in a similar manner. The plate in this case is about one and a half inches wide, and as long as desired; four or five holes are placed on either side, and the plate screwed to the wall. The crack grows down sound and the horse does not ,go lame again from this cause. A few years ago I stated that there was a great future in store for the mechanical treatment of diseased feet; every day proves the correctness of this statement, and the simple procedure just described is a small but important addition to the list. In mv next communication I will describe the method of converting a shrivelled up and contracted foot into one of normal shape and proportions.
AMERICAN PLEURO-PNEUMONIA. By THOMAS WALLEY, M.R.C.V.S., Principal, Royal Veterinary College, Edinburgh. SEEING that I have been so often quoted in connection with the above subject during the past few months, I deem it a duty to myself to pen a few remarks thereanent. Professor vVilliams appears to lay claim to the possession of a more intimate knowledge on the subject of pleuro-pneumonia than that possessed by his confreres, but this claim is greatly weakened by the fact that he has on different occasions held or expressed very different • opinions on the subject. This controversy is not of to-day only; it originated coincidently with the declaration of the existence of pleuro-pneumonia in the cargo of the s.S. "Ontario" by the officers of the then Privy Council at Liverpool, and it is curious that Professor Williams then took up exactly the same ground he has taken up on the present occasion, but he required a space of consider;:tbly more than 24 hours to enable him to arrive at a decision. In reference to Professor Williams's consistency, I shall direct attention to one or two incidents of the past, the accuracy of which I challenge him to deny. A number of years since, during the course of a celebrated trial, Professor Williams declared on oath in a court of law that an animal had suffered from pleuro-pneumonia two or three months before the date of slaughter, and that the proof of this was the existence of a patch of new interstitial tissue attaching the costal to the pulmonary pleura on one side of the chest. On another occasion, Professor Williams declared, also in a court of law, that the post-mortem examination of the lungs of an ox or cow
GENERAL ARTICLES.
comparing these with our own sections we found that the two presented exactly the same appearances. vVe then concluded that the three cases we have described were the victims of swine erysipelas;' and though we have not proved this experimentally, there can hardly be any doubt that our cases were of the same nature as those so ably investigated by Dr M'Fadyean. \Ve showed one of the hearts with sections stained by Gram's method and also one of Professor Bang's sections for comparison in the Bacteriological Museum at the International Congress of Hygiene held in London last August.
ON THE
MECHANICAL TREATMENT DEFECTIVE HOOF.
OF
By Veterinary Captain F. SMITH, Professor, Army Veterinary School, Aldershot. By defective hoof I mean disease of the horny wall leading to loss of substance or fissures, and this is the only form of defect which I purpose dealing with. Taking seedy toe as a well-marked example of defective hoof, we find that the loss of substance caused by the removal of the diseased wall may extend nearly as high as the coronet or only an inch or so from the ground. In days gone by I treated this by rest, blisters to the coronet, wet applications to the feet, etc., and often after months of patience one was rewarded by a sound hoof being formed. Within the last few years I have worked on different lines. Although I take away the hoof as freely as before (and no doubt this constitutes the essence in the treatment of seedy toe), I no longer find it necessary to throw a horse out of work because the front of his foot is taken ,away, for I fit over the excised portion a metal plate and screw it on to the wall of the hoof; this at once restores the natural shape of the part, affords protection to the horny lamince, confines the dressing in its place, and leaves the horse nearly as useful as before.
I attach a drawing of one of the last cases of seedy toe treated in this way. The disease extended nearly to the coronet and well back
GENERAL ARTICLES.
53
into one quarter; the whole of the separated wall was removed (I always saw it out, it saves half-an-hour's cutting, and finish off with the knife), and every particle of the peculiar dust removed. A tracing of the ground surface of the foot is then made on a piece of paper, and the place marked where the wall can best take the nails; this ensures greater accuracy in fit than a farrier will carry out when he has to go to the foot several times to fit a shoe, and, moreover, we know that the nail holes are placed in the best position where the wall is sound. The nej{t step is to take the bearing of the sole off the shoe from opposite to where the wall has been removed, and this is done by filing out the place on the foot surface of the shoe to the required extent. The shoe is now put on, resting only on the sound portion of
wall. A thin plate of sheet iron is next shaped to the wall of the foot, and cut to correspond with the diseased part removed, but left sufficiently large to be screwed into the sound wall; the holes for the screws are countersunk, for which purpose the plate must have sufficient substance; it may now be fitted hot to the wall so as to form a bed for itself and lie perfectly flush with the natural wall. The bed having been formed, the next thing to attend to is that the plate does not quite touch the shoe; this is to prevent any strain being placed on the screws; the whole may now be screwed on by short steel screws, which run in easier if first dipped in oil. The direction taken by the screws is a matter of some importance; if screwed into the wall obliquely they have a longer, and therefore stronger, hold than if simply screwed in straight; by observing the thickness of the wall we are going to work on, we can judge of the length of screw required. Before the plate is finally put in position the dressing is introduced, not so tightly as to press on the sensitive lamin::e, and yet sufficient of it to keep dirt working up from below. I use ordinary tar and tow for this purpose. When the operation is completed the defective wall is not only perfectly protected, but to all appearances restored, and the horse goes to work. Every week the plate is removed to examine the part (the screws do not rust in because they are previously oiled), and fresh dressing introduced.
54
GENERAL ARTICLES.
In this way the case goes on from week to week, the plate being gradually shortened as the hoof grows down, until at last it can be completely left off. The advantages of this method of treatment over the old system hardly need pointing out, the great gain being that, though we treat the wall by radical excision, yet the horse need not be laid up for a single day. I treat toe sand-cracks and defects in the wall of the hoof caused by injuries to the coronet in a similar manner. The plate in this case is about one and a half inches wide, and as long as desired; four or five holes are placed on either side, and the plate screwed to the wall. The crack grows down sound and the horse does not ,go lame again from this cause. A few years ago I stated that there was a great future in store for the mechanical treatment of diseased feet; every day proves the correctness of this statement, and the simple procedure just described is a small but important addition to the list. In mv next communication I will describe the method of converting a shrivelled up and contracted foot into one of normal shape and proportions.
AMERICAN PLEURO-PNEUMONIA. By THOMAS WALLEY, M.R.C.V.S., Principal, Royal Veterinary College, Edinburgh. SEEING that I have been so often quoted in connection with the above subject during the past few months, I deem it a duty to myself to pen a few remarks thereanent. Professor vVilliams appears to lay claim to the possession of a more intimate knowledge on the subject of pleuro-pneumonia than that possessed by his confreres, but this claim is greatly weakened by the fact that he has on different occasions held or expressed very different • opinions on the subject. This controversy is not of to-day only; it originated coincidently with the declaration of the existence of pleuro-pneumonia in the cargo of the s.S. "Ontario" by the officers of the then Privy Council at Liverpool, and it is curious that Professor Williams then took up exactly the same ground he has taken up on the present occasion, but he required a space of consider;:tbly more than 24 hours to enable him to arrive at a decision. In reference to Professor Williams's consistency, I shall direct attention to one or two incidents of the past, the accuracy of which I challenge him to deny. A number of years since, during the course of a celebrated trial, Professor Williams declared on oath in a court of law that an animal had suffered from pleuro-pneumonia two or three months before the date of slaughter, and that the proof of this was the existence of a patch of new interstitial tissue attaching the costal to the pulmonary pleura on one side of the chest. On another occasion, Professor Williams declared, also in a court of law, that the post-mortem examination of the lungs of an ox or cow