If showing an inclination to do so, the animal should then be allowed to remain and rest. In one instance in which we so operated (a case of laminitis in the hind-feet alone), the relief given was at once manifested. For three days previously the animal had remained standing in agonizing pain. On the fourth he was cast, and the discharge--partly inflammatory exudate, and partly a sanious foetid pus--liberated. The hobbles were removed, and the animal allowed to remain down while our attention was drawn to another case. This attended to, we walked back to the field where, our first patient was lying. His breathing, but a short time before distressedly short and catching, was now so slow and deeply regular that for one brief moment the thought flashed across our mind that he was dead. He was in a _profound_ sleep. Other operators sometimes give the exudate escape while making the grooves in what is now known as 'Smith's Operation.' In this operation the hoof is so grooved as to allow of its expansion, so relieving the pressure on the sensitive structures within it. Incidentally, the inflammatory exudate is given exit. [Illustration: FIG. 120.--DIAGRAM OF HOOF SHOWING THE POSITION OF THE THREE GROOVES MADE IN THE TREATMENT OF LAMINITIS.] The animal is cast, the shoes removed, and three vertical grooves made in the wall. The first is cut down the centre of toe, extending from the coronet to the ground surface. The second is made to the right of this, and the third to the left, each following the direction of the horn fibres, and each distant about 2 inches from the first (see 1, 2, and 3, Fig. 120). Each of the grooves must run completely from the coronary margin to the ground surface, and each should be carried through the substance of the horn until the horny laminæ are reached. This done, the underneath surface of the foot is grooved at the white line (see curved groove 4, Fig. 121) in such a manner as to entirely isolate the two pieces of horn _a_ and _b_ from the remainder of the hoof. Expansion of the horny box is thus brought about, while at the same time the semicircular groove at the toe is made deep enough to allow of the escape of the exudate. If thought wise by the operator, the two pieces of horn _a_ and _b_ may be isolated, and the exudate given exit by making the fourth groove in the position of the dotted lines in Fig. 120--that is to say, at the lowermost portion of the sensitive structures. By this means the sole will be left intact. [Illustration: FIG. 121.--LOWER SURFACE OF FOOT SHOWING POSITION OF THE GROOVES MADE IN THE TREATMENT OF LAMINITIS.] Fuller instruction for making the grooves and the instruments required will be found described in Section C of Chapter X. The animal should be afterwards shod, and the bearing on the portions _a_ and _b_ of the wall removed. Almost immediate relief is afforded the patient.