especially
should the joint become affected. It may so happen, as sometimes in fact it
does, that the animal may die as a result of the infective fever so set up.
From no surface in the body can absorption take place quicker than from the
synovial membrane of a joint. So soon, therefore, as this membrane comes in
contact with septic material, so soon does a severe septic fever make its
appearance. The septic matter has gained the blood-stream, and the patient
succumbs to septic poisoning.

Apart from death occurring naturally, the changes taking place in the joint
in the shape of bony growths or of actual anchylosis may be so severe as to
render the animal useless, and slaughter may have to be advised.

_Treatment_.--We have already said that by far the most active cause in
the production of corn is the shoe. It follows from this that it is to the
shoeing we must largely look for a successful means of their prevention,
and that the treatment of corn in its most simple form is really a matter
for the smith, and not for the veterinary surgeon.

The faults in connection with the shoeing we have mentioned fully when
treating of the _causes_ of corn. From those we learn that a shoe with a
flat-bearing surface, or one moderately seated but flat at the heels, is
the correct shoe for nearly all feet. The heels of the shoe should not be
too high, should not be too short, and should be wide enough apart from
each other to insure the wall of the foot obtaining a fair share of the
bearing. Finally, even with the present method of shoeing, whenever it is
possible to allow the frog to come to the ground, it should be encouraged
to do so, and excessive paring either of the latter organ or of the bars or
the sole should be strictly discountenanced. Where the sole is thin, or the
frog wasted, use a leather sole or a rubber pad. With these precautions,
corns may be prevented from occuring even in a foot with a predisposing
conformation.

When corn is present, the first treatment usually adopted is that of
'paring it out.' This is advocated by Percival and by many other writers.
We cannot say, however, that we agree with it--at any rate, not in the case
of simple dry corn.

'Paring it out,' and by that we mean thinning down the sole until close on
the sensitive structures, can only be advised in the case of suppurating
corn, or in cases where doubt exists as to whether pus is present or not.
In the latter case paring becomes necessary