It appears not to have occurred to writers upon veterinary subjects that the horse, which breathes but to work--for the instant its ability to toil ceases the knacker becomes its possessor--that an animal which exists under so severe a law, should occasionally be "used up;" that a creature which is sold from master to master, all of whom become purchasers with a view only to "the work" each can get out of the "thews and muscles," should occasionally be debilitated to that stage which might interfere with the healthiness of its secretions, is a notion that seems to have been beyond the reach of those writers who have hitherto composed books upon the equine race. A separation between the union of the two layers of horn which compose the crust has been long known; it has been much thought about, and the fancy has been somewhat racked to account for its origin. Still, although the human physician has recorded the brittle state and abnormal condition of man's nails in peculiar stages of disease, no one seems thence to have argued that a certain condition of body might possibly affect the hoofs of our stabled servant. [Illustration: SECTION OF A HORSE'S FOOT AFFECTED WITH SEEDY TOE.] The method of cure which the author adopted, led thereto by the admirable lectures of Mr. Spooner, and the success it met, soon made apparent the fact of its origin; but, before describing this, it may be as well to inform the reader in what consists a seedy state of the horse's toe. The wall of the foot is composed of two layers--the outer one, the hardest, the darkest, and the thinnest, is secreted by the coronet; the inner layer, the softest, thickest, and most light in color, is derived from the sensitive laminæ. These different kinds of horn, in a healthy state, unite one with the other, so that the two apparently form one substance. The junction makes a thick, elastic, and strong body, whereto an iron shoe can be safely nailed, and whereon the enormous bulk of the horse's frame may with safety rest. But when overwork affects the natural functions of the body, the two kinds of horn do not unite; their division invariably begins at the toe, as it always commences in the nail of the human being at the outer margin. If the seedy toe be tapped or gently struck, it emits a hollow sound; and if the shoe be removed, there will be found a vacant space between the two layers of horn; into this space a nail, a piece of broom, or a straw is commonly pushed, to ascertain the depth of the lesion. [Illustration: THE APPEARANCE PRESENTED BY SEEDY TOE WHEN THE SHOE IS REMOVED, AND THE GROUND SURFACE OF THE WALL IS INSPECTED.]