made on my mind; and although twelve years' experience in active practice since that period have induced me to draw some other inferences, which may not exactly accord with the first impressions, yet they will be seen to harmonize in the aggregate*.

I believe I am correct in stating, that before the year 1816, the College Museum, splendid as it then was, contained but a solitary specimen of the

navicular disease, and which was simply a diseased Navicular joint navicular bone, divested of its ligaments and tenknown as the don; but Mr. Coleman has, on several occasions general seat of

disease un

ness of the fore feet.

chronic lame- since, candidly acknowledged in his lectures, that he had looked upon it previously to that time as a specimen of disease of a very rare occurrence. I shall, however, attempt to shew that it is a very prevalent disease, and that it is the general cause of the groggy foot lameness instead of the occasional, chance, false-step disease, which some of the very old writers on farriery are said to have described nearly a century ago. That they took only a superficial view of this truly formidable complaint, and altogether omitted to connect it with the general foot lameness, I think is quite manifest; or surely I should not have it in my power to say, that not an

* The important paper to which Mr. Turner here alludes, and which, in our opinion, fully establishes his claim as the first person who brought this disease fairly under the notice of the profession, we are reluctantly compelled, by the press of other matter, to omit. It shall be inserted at an early opportunity.-Editors of The Veterinarian.

author had reverted to it, from the very foundation of the Veterinary College, down to the period at which my paper on the subject was sent to that institution; and in which interval of time, Professor Coleman and Mr. Bracy Clark had immortalized themselves by their luminous works on the foot of the horse.

In attempting to elucidate the nature of the navi Contraction. cular disease, together with its causes, I find it ne

cessary to class contraction of the hoof under two Two forms of. heads: the one I would designate as general contraction; the other I must presume to call occult or partial contraction. By the former, I mean a foot with narrow heels, its figure presenting rather more

an oblong than a circular shape, with a general di- The general or minution of its size and capacity.

apparent.

partial.

By the latter, occult or partial contraction, I ad- The occult or vert to that treacherous kind of foot frequently to be met with, which upon merely inspecting in the stable, without viewing the action of the animal, we might (without any disparagement to our judgment) be induced to pronounce a good fair average foot; and yet upon trotting the horse ten yards, although possessed of sound, clean legs, he might prove himself a decided cripple, groggy, and in- Insidious nacurably lame.

My own experience in the treatment of chronic foot lameness, since the year 1816, has afforded me opportunities of watching the causes, symptoms,

ture of this disease.

and progress of the navicular disease under all circumstances, over a hunting country, notorious for the destruction of horses by its hills and flints, viz., Surrey. I have also seen the ravages of the disease during my practice in the army, and I know practically the proportion of wear and tear arising from it in post and coach establishments. Close observation and repeated dissections have thoroughly convinced me, that the navicular joint is more or less diseased in every case of chronic foot lameness, where no apparent cause exists for such lameness, except contraction. And as a large proportion of these cases of lameness exhibit contraction of the hoof or external foot, in a much less degree than hundreds of horses daily doing fast work on the hard road and in the field, notoriously sound, or at least free from lameness (many of whose feet might be selected as choice specimens of contraction), it occurs to me that this classification or division of contraction into two kinds is necessarily called for. To detect the existence of this insidious disease during life in its incipient state, the united tact, talent, and discriOccult partial mination of the experienced practitioner are essenprecursor to na- tial; for there are many apparently fine, openlooking feet affected with this complaint, which in reality are treacherous feet, concealing from the eye of a common observer a lurking evil, which is generally antecedent to the navicular disease: this is the occult partial contraction or pressure, the precise seat of which I shall presently point out.

contraction a

vicular disease.

In the course of this investigation I shall attempt to answer a question which has been considered by horse amateurs a great mystery; a question which has been proposed by every horseman, but never yet satisfactorily answered by any man: it is thisHow do you account for so many horses, with their feet much contracted, being perfectly free from lameness in the midst of hard work?

I propose, first, to shew what I conceive to be the primary and chief causes of contraction; and, secondly, shall attempt to account for these instances of contraction, as being unaccompanied with lame

ness.

Notwithstanding the conflicting opinions of our eminent veterinary writers as to the causes of contraction, all seem to admit, that contraction of the hoof is more or less apparent in most horses which have been accustomed to be shod; that it often happens long before they have attained their highest value for work, and not unfrequently before they are five years old. On taking up the foot of an aged horse, we rather look for it as a necessary attendant; but yet it cannot be denied, that a large proportion of these horses are perfectly free from lameness in the heart of labour.

growth of toe

of contraction.

In contrasting the feet of our working horses (as An exuberant enduring a state of bondage) with those left to na- a primary cause ture, I am convinced that the lengthened toe, so often the accumulation of from four to six weeks' growth of hoof, is a very serious evil, and as great a

motion to the

stable.

violation of Nature's law as the common shoe or inflexible ring of iron affixed to the foot with nails, which, according to Mr. Bracy Clark, is the only bane. I am led to this conclusion from observing that the unshod foot in a state of nature is never subjected to this restraint, as the daily wear keeps pace with the growth, and the heels widen in proportion as the toe is shortened, and vice versá.

2dly, The next deviation from nature, and which I conceive to be the harbinger of the evil, is the pasDeprivation of sive state to which the feet of horses are subjected foot in the by the usual mode of tying the animals to a post in a stall, which, even in a well-regulated stable, is frequently from twenty-one to twenty-three hours out of the twenty-four. This, however, is not the worst, as it is by no means unusual for a horse to stand in his stall two or three days together, when not required to work.

sition in the

If we calculate these vacant hours, and compare them with the very few that a horse in pasture is in a quiescent state (he being always in quest of the best herbage), we need not be surprised at finding, Stationary po- by the end of a year, that certain important parts of stall, a most the horny box have changed their position and chaof contraction. racter, from the deprivation of this natural pressure and motion conjointly. The particulars of this I shall presently explain; and I firmly believe, that, if every valuable horse in this kingdom were to be forthwith turned loose into a large box night and

prolific source