A treatise on the horse : its diseases, lameness, and improvement in which is laid down the proper method of shoeing the different kinds of feet : also, some new observations on the art and practice of farriery ; and on the nature and difference in the several breeds of speedy horses / by William Osmer.

  • Osmer, William.
Date:
1830
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on the horse : its diseases, lameness, and improvement in which is laid down the proper method of shoeing the different kinds of feet : also, some new observations on the art and practice of farriery ; and on the nature and difference in the several breeds of speedy horses / by William Osmer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    than the unequal pressure of the foot in our modern concave shoe. Of stiff joints.—The stricture occasioned by a deep crust, and narrow form of the foot, with hard riding, and much ill usage, will also produce ossification of the cartilages of the joint of the foot, termed the coffin-joint, whence stiffness in the part always ensues. This may be considered a spurious anchylosis. There is also another kind or degree of anchylosis, by which is to be understood a total loss of motion in the joint, the first kind being marked by suffering only some small degree of it. Joint'oiL—In every joint there are numerous glands, the use of which is to secrete and pour forth in action a certain mucus. To these are added certain vessels, that discharge a thinner fluid, which, being mixed with the other, makes a liniment of a proper consistence, whose use is to lubricate and defend the ends of the bones; all which, for the sake of promoting motion, are covered with a cartilage, or gristle. Now, when these glands are inflamed by severe work, they grow occasionally rigid, pour forth more sparingly their mucus, and at length become dry and indu- rated. Hence, I have been led to think this ossi- fication of the cartilages is but a secondary disorder, depending on the state or diminished quantity of this mucous liniment. That such an inflammation attends the glands, I have seen frequent instances ; one, where the fetlock-joint of a hunted stag had been cut asunder in the summer time, when the