constant dressing in a
suitable manner. We prefer in this instance washing some three or four
times a day with hot water until a perfectly clean wound is obtained, and,
after the washing, painting the raw surface with a strong solution (1 in
200, or 1 in 100) of perchloride of mercury.

When the abscess we have described as forming is extremely large, or where
it is more than ordinarily slow in 'pointing,' the likelihood of its having
burrowed for some distance below the upper margin of the wall must be
suspected. Here it is sometimes wise to thin the wall with the rasp
immediately below the point of greatest swelling of the coronet. This will
serve to lessen pressure on the sensitive structures beneath.

Immediately the abscess contents have found exit at the coronet, the cavity
formerly occupied by the pus should be explored. If to any extent it is
found then to have 'pocketed' beneath the upper border of the wall, a
counter-opening should be made where the horn of the wall has been thinned
with the rasp.

When it so happens, either from extensive bruising or from the action of
excessive cold, that we have or suspect the condition of sloughing, then
the first indication is to aid the live tissues to throw off the necrosed
portion. In spite of what is sometimes urged to the contrary, a hot
poultice is, perhaps, the best means of bringing this about. Directly the
necrosed piece is shed, a wound remains which, so far as treatment is
concerned, may be regarded exactly as that left by the formation of pus.
Hot water applications, some three or four times daily, will serve both to
cleanse the wound and also to maintain vitality in the tissues immediately
surrounding it. After each washing, the use of a strong antiseptic solution
to the wound is again beneficial.

In the case of an actual wound, whether, as in overreach, affecting the
coronet alone or involving destruction of part of the wall, or, as in the
case of toe-tread, penetrating the pedal articulation, the treatment to be
followed is simple enough, in theory, if not always easy to carry out. It
consists solely in maintaining a rigid asepsis of the parts until healing
is well advanced or complete. The whole foot, including the coronet, should
first be thoroughly washed in warm water. At the same time there should be
used some agent that will tend to remove the natural grease of the parts.
In this manner cleansing will be rendered more thorough, and penetration of