sively and universally considered, then, the
term lameness signifies any irregularity or derangement of the function
of locomotion, irrespective of the cause which produced it or the degree
of its manifestation. However slightly or severely it may be exhibited,
it is all the same. The nicest observation may be demanded for its
detection, and it may need the most thoroughly trained powers of
discernment to identify and locate it, as in cases in which the animal
is said to be fainting, tender, or to go sore. On the contrary, the
patient may be so far affected as to refuse utterly to use an injured
leg, and under compulsory motion keep it raised from the ground, and
prefer to travel on three legs rather than to bear any portion of his
weight upon the afflicted member. In these two extremes, and in all the
intermediate degrees, the patient is simply lame--pathognomonic minutiae
being considered and settled in a place of their own.

This last condition of disabled function--lameness on three legs--and
many of the lower degrees of simple lameness are very easy of detection,
but the first, or mere tenderness or soreness, may be very difficult to
identify, and at times very serious results have followed from the
obscurity which has enveloped the early stages of the malady. For it may
easily occur that in the absence of the treatment which an early correct
diagnosis would have indicated, an insidious ailment may so take
advantage of the lapse of time as to root itself too deeply into the
economy to be subverted, and become transformed into a disabling chronic
case, or possibly one that is incurable and fatal. Hence the impolicy of
depreciating early symptoms because they are not accompanied with
distinct and pronounced characteristics, and from a lack of threatening
appearances inferring the absence of danger. The possibilities of an
ambush can never be safely ignored. An extra caution costs nothing, even
if wasted. The fulfillment of the first duty of a practitioner, when
introduced to a case, is not always an easy task, though it is too
frequently expected that the diagnosis, or "what is the matter" verdict,
will be reached by the quickest and surest kind of an "instantaneous
process" and a sure prognosis, or "how will it end," guessed at
instanter.

Usually the discovery that the animal is becoming lame is comparatively
an easy matter to a careful observer. Such a person will readily note
the changes of movements which will