(2.) =Palpation and pressure= will detect changes in local sensibility, the softness or hardness of tissues, the existence of superficial or deep fluctuation, œdematous swelling, and abnormal growths like ring-bones and exostoses, as well as the exact character of articular enlargements. (3.) =Percussion= is of little value in examining the apparatus of locomotion. Nevertheless, percussion of the claws, and of certain bones of the limbs, or of flat bones, may afford valuable information in cases of laminitis, ostitis, and periostitis. Percussion along the longitudinal axes of the limb bones is also useful in diagnosing intra-articular fractures, subacute arthritis, osteomyelitis, etc. (4.) =The gait.= Lame animals should be made to move, in order to assist both in discovering the cause, and in estimating the gravity of the condition. Sometimes it is advisable to turn the animal loose, but most frequently it is moved in hand, either in straight lines or in circles. Information so obtained should always be supplemented by local manipulation and by passive movement, such as flexion, extension, abduction, adduction and rotation of the joints. A knowledge of the characteristics of normal movement in any given joint, renders it comparatively easy to detect abnormality, such as increased sensibility, articular crepitation or friction, and to diagnose fractures with or without displacement, ruptures of tendons or ligaments, etc. CHAPTER I. DISEASES OF BONES. The diseases affecting bony tissues may broadly be divided into local and general. Local diseases like ostitis, periostitis, necrosis, fracture, etc., are somewhat rare, and are less important in cattle than such general diseases as rachitis and osseous cachexia. Rachitis is a disease of young animals, and occurs during the growing period. Osseous cachexia is a disease of adults. Nevertheless, there is a relationship between these two morbid conditions, for they frequently co-exist in one family. Moreover, brood mares and cows suffering from osseous cachexia give birth to foals and calves, which, if left with their mothers, almost inevitably become rachitic. The general characteristic common to both rachitis and osseous cachexia consisting in diminution in the normal proportion of mineral salts entering into the constitution of the bone, numerous theories have been advanced to explain this irregularity in nutrition. =The theory of insufficiency= is one of the oldest. It presupposes that the young animals’ food contains insufficient mineral salts necessary for building up the skeleton, hence rachitis; or again, that the daily food of the adults does not afford sufficient mineral salts to compensate for the normal transformation which is continually going on within the organism, and for the direct losses which occur through the medium of the urine, milk, etc.