dryness of stable bedding, are also
particularly liable to this condition. It is noticed, too, following the
excessive use of unsuitable hoof-dressings, more especially in cases where
coat after coat of the dressing is applied without occasionally removing
the previous applications.

_Treatment_.--As a prophylactic, a good hoof-dressing is indicated. It
should not consist solely of grease, but should have mixed with it either
wax, turpentine, or tar.

Above all, careful shoeing should be insisted on, and the owner of an
animal with feet such as these will be well advised if he is recommended to
have the shoeing superintended by one well competent to direct it rightly.
The foot should be trimmed but lightly, always remembering that in a foot
of this description the horn, in addition to being brittle, is generally
abnormally thin. Jagged or partly broken pieces should be removed, and the
bearing surface rendered as level as possible. The foot should be carefully
examined before punching the nail-holes in the shoe, and the nail-holes
afterwards placed so as to come opposite the soundest portions of horn. The
nails themselves should be as thin as is consistent with durability, and
should be driven as high up as possible.

On the least sign of undue wear the shoes should be removed, never, as is
too often done, allowing them to remain on so long that a portion breaks
away. If, with the laudable idea of not interfering with the horn more than
is possible, this is practised, the portion of the shoe breaking off is
bound to tear away with it more or less of the brittle horn to which it is
attached.

Where the breaks in the horn are so large as to prevent a level bearing for
the shoe being obtained, the interstices should be filled up with one or
other of the preparations made for this purpose. One of the most suitable
is that discovered by M. Defay. By its means sand-cracks or other fractures
of the horn may be durably cemented up.

'Even pieces of iron may be securely joined together by its means. The only
precaution for its successful application is the careful removal of all
grease by spirits of sal-ammoniac, sulphide of carbon, or ether. M. Defay
makes no secret of its composition, which is as follows: Take 1 part of
coarsely-powdered gum-ammoniac, and 2 parts of gutta-percha, in pieces the
size of a hazel-nut. Put them in a tin-lined vessel over a slow fire, and
stir constantly until thoroughly mixed. Before the thick,