PREFACE.

About seven years ago, whilst pursuing some experiments on the
contracted feet of horses, it occurred to me that the causes usually
advanced to explain this serious imperfection were not real; and
that, in fact, the accidents, carelessness, idle habits, and wanton
tricks of the smith, so much inveighed against, had very little
concern in its production. The efficient cause began to appear
to me to lie much deeper, and to consist in the very method itself
by which the shoe was affixed to the foot.

To establish this opinion by the unerring evidence of experiment
seemed difficult; yet a plan for effecting this purpose shortly after
suggested itself, and a subject exceedingly well fitted for its appli-
cation soon offered. I have thus been enabled to place this opinion
beyond the reach of doubt. A detail of those experiments will
be found in the following pages; and the train of consequences
which terminate in the partial destruction of the foot, and pro-
ceeding from the continued operation of the same cause.

After having well considered these facts, and reflected on the
great obscurity which has hitherto prevailed in this branch of vete-
rinary science, I imagined that these discoveries might be worthy
the attention of the public; especially as, the cause of this chief
defect being now understood, little would remain in the art of
shoeing that did not admit of easy solution. I further hoped that,
by doing this, I might excite such efforts as would crown with
success the attempt to remove the evil, by introducing shoes of a
different construction. The few experiments which I have been
able to make lead me to conjecture that it cannot be long ere this
will be accomplished. Whatever may be the result in regard to this

PREFACE.

conjecture, the clear and intelligible exhibition of the cause of so
much mischief and suffering, cannot be of trifling importance : for
men are not likely to endeavour to avoid that, of the danger of
which they are not sensible. And I have now the satisfaction of
observing in this second edition, the first having been published
about twenty years ago, that this conjecture has been fully verified,
and more than one shoeing establishment is now in extensive ope-
ration in this metropolis, giving, by a yielding shoe, relief to hundreds
of horses from these cruel and ruinous measures.

The present method of shoeing was, I apprehend, first introduced
about twelve or thirteen hundred years ago, and has continued to
this day without any very material changes in it, and apparently
without any suspicions being entertained of the fact which I am
about to expose, at least any consistent demonstrative evidence of it,
as far as my knowledge extends ; the obvious abuses in the practice
of this art having chiefly attracted the notice of those who have
written on these subjects.

Tenderness before, exists among horses in different degrees so
universally, that every man accustomed to riding looks for it, and
uses his precautions accordingly ; nay, so frequent is it, that it is
regarded by some as almost natural to the animal; and it is also
a matter which the knowing ones in liorse-flesh, as they are some-
times termed, are not displeased with : they pick up a cheap horse
that has fallen down, or been sold with loss, on account of his
tripping dangerously�one which, from his high value, they could
not otherwise obtain ; and by severity of bitting, and by tormenting
him with the whip, or spur, or both, (continually inflicting pain, or
supporting the apprehension of it,) they conceal, and overcome as it
were, the suffering of his feet, and escape the mischiefs to which
others, using means less cruel, might be exposed. Such is the mer-
ciless system which practice has taught them for rendering useful
horses so mutilated. And many also, in the superior conditions of
life, are frequently expending large sums of money in order to obtain
the healthful and agreeable services of these animals, in riding on

PREFACE. ^y

horseback, or being drawn in a carriage; yet are they but too fre-
quently, in a little time, owing to the difficulties thrown in their way,
obliged to abandon them from their almost perpetual interruptions,
accidents, or vexations, and this from causes they are altogether
unable to understand or contend against, and which will be seen
chiefly to arise from the defective principles and injurious effects of
the shoeing, and of which stable-men and smiths take advantage,
and increase their power, and this without understanding, as they are
supposed to do, the true source of these difficulties. I may also
remark, that in writing this treatise, it has not been easy to find
language to express these things; for, hitherto, the language of
disguise has been purposely used to conceal and cloak them from
public view, and to turn away and divert the attention.

In determining these matters by actual experiment, there will be
found some novelty, as experiments have not before been introduced
into this art; nor was it even supposed to be susceptible of elu-
cidation by such means; presumptuous opinions, or more frequently
sturdy assertion, having stood in lieu of these, and materially opposed
the progress of this species of knowledge : but if what is here
advanced be true, it will be found to subvert nearly all that has
been done upon the subject, and to open almost an entirely new
prospect on these things.

I cannot forbear offering a remark in this place respecting the
veterinary profession, independent of the subject of shoeing, in order
to give encouragement to those that are engaged in it, who may at
present find it full of difficulty; and to the public, who may be
inclined to withdraw their support, as if it were a hopeless profession.
There is no art, it may be maintained, so perplexed and difficult,
that by human industry and research, steadily and properly exerted,
cannot be rendered more clear and practicable : to accomplish this,
however, time must be allowed. Public institutions in themselves
cannot, it is obvious, create knowledge ; they can only afford con-
venient opportunities for study to those who are disposed to employ

PREFACE.

them; and it must still be from individual exertion that improve-
ments will spring. When a few advances have been made beyond
the present state, the progress will be probably more rapid, and its
service to the horse and to mankind will assuredly be felt. Many
disappointments have without doubt arisen from unfounded expect-
ations of relief in desperate and hopeless cases where art could not
avail; and some, not finding their interest served in this respect,
have become rancorous enemies to the establishment and the pro-
fession. The fruit has been sought before the blossom was unfolded.
Still there can be no doubt that if human medicine and surgery have
been aided by public establishments, the veterinary art must admit
of improvement by the same means.

It is with pain, however, I have to record, in publishing this second
edition, that now the mystery has been unfolded, and the difficulty
exposed nearly twenty years, the greatest obstacle to its general
acknowledgment and diffusion has originated with that very school
founded for promoting horse knowledge, though I had taken every
care to avoid giving offence,�so dangerous are institutions, and
protected incorporations of men, who have interests at variance with
the science they profess, and who view invidiously any knowledge or
discovery not originating with themselves.

Many promising young men were engaged in this profession at the
first establishment of the college, who would have succeeded in any
of the common occupations of life, but who have sunk under the
difficulties of this. The obscurity of some cases, and the irre-
mediable nature of others, with the obstinate opposition of persons
interested in the support of darkness, have been so adverse to
success, that they have fallen sacrifices to them. Of myself, I may
remark, that I have with difficulty persevered under the various
discouraging circumstances to which I have been exposed; but
at length surmounted several of them, I shall not be deterred from
the exercise of this profession while health and strength remain.
Whenever I may think that small advances have been made, I

PREFACE. VJi

propose to give to the public the result of my inquiries; provided
they should meet with a favourable reception, and defray the ex-
penses incurred in printing them.

I am quite at a loss to guess what I have done to offend those
personages, the professors of the various veterinary colleges; but by
nearly all have I been treated basely,�concealing my discoveries
from their pupils, and by endeavouring to traduce and misrepresent
them. Professor Coleman, in a most unprovoked manner, has done
this; and though he dared not make any open manly attack, which
would have been quickly answered, he has to his pupils in secret
used all the little arts of defamation, and has nearly prevented,
through his agents thus misled, and who scattered this poison of
their prejudice through the country, what little advantages I might
have derived by the sale of my work, or rather of obtaining some
small portion of reimbursement for my many expenses in pursuing
these subjects, in doing which I seldom flinched, as will be seen, at
any cost that appeared to be required for ascertaining or clearing up
a doubtful point. In my first edition, though his work lay before
me, a tempting object for remark and criticism, I used him with
much delicacy, that I might not injure a school I ardently wished to
see flourish: if I spare, therefore, those compliments now, in this
present edition, I shall not descend to low abuse or retribution for
such very unmerited treatment. He has indeed often insinuated
that I was an enemy to the college : I am certainly the enemy of no
college, nor of any individual; and may I not say my labours have
been directed for the general good in elucidating these arts, and for
the use and advantage of all who practise or profess them.

Professor Girard, of the Alfort school near Paris, has, with more
candour than my countrymen, very handsomely complimented this
work on the foot, in the second edition of his TraiU du pied du
Cheval; but afterwards insinuates, in a very loose, vague manner,
that it received help from some one in France : this I should have
acknowledged with great pleasure had it been so; but certain it is

Vlll

PREFACE.

that I had great difficulty in getting this work understood there :
but that I derived any help in the matter of it, he will easily see
could not be the case if he compares it with the original, published
six years before in England, and he will then find that many useful
passages were omitted from the difficulty of translating them. If
the new arrangement in that translation is the thing alluded to, I
may assure him it was wholly my own, and he has been imposed
upon, if any one has really insinuated to him the contrary. I wrote
that part of it exactly as it now stands in the translation, and
M. Mazion, the Cure of Fourqueux, near St. Germains, translated
it, but with great difficulty, from not knowing the subject, whilst I
resided in his house, during two or three weeks, and assisted him;
and the first, or introductory part of it, was translated by my brother-
in-law, J. J. Secretan, in England, and was taken over to France. A
quotation, indeed, I thought I observed among the Latin writers,
alluded to in the Essay " On the Knowledge of the Ancients re-
specting Shoeing," which might have been added by Professor
Huzard in printing it; but excepting this, I know of nothing that
could be so interpreted, and if this had been omitted, the proofs
would have been equally decisive of the end proposed in this disser-
tation. And as to Lafosse, if any one will read him attentively and
altogether, they will, I think, come to the conclusion, that so far
from borrowing from him, I have allowed him to know what he
really never understood ; or why did not his countrymen understand
it before I published, and have practised shoeing with a motion for
the foot long ago ? but it was the business of these colleges formerly
to depreciate Lafosse, till I praised him as making the only step that
had been made, though a false one : for certain it is, that by his
false doctrine about frog-pressure, he did a great deal of harm, and
the effects of it are still felt by thousands of men and horses, both
in England and in France, at this day.

Plate 5.

FOALS Foot a-fa* s,■,■,/:, rr/c/r

a. i/. /'////�/>. //{ft.-//.'/..

FOAILS F©©T A.T :bi:ir.m .

EXPERIMENTS

THE FOOT OF THE HORSE.

Chap. I.�The views commonly entertained of the cause of these
defects in the going of horses by various characters supposed from
their habits to have a knowledge of these things. The views also
of the more enlightened. Various principles of shoeing, as they
are called, examined; good and bad Shoeing; One principle
only,�that defined. An experiment undertaken and executed in
illustration of the effects of Shoeing.

There is nothing can retard the advances of any art more than too
much apprehension about its mysteries and difficulties. The art of
nailing iron to horses' feet for their defence is in itself sufficiently
simple; a view of the process would show it; the readiness with which
those who practise it attain the art would also evince it.

The consequences entailed by a long continuance of this procedure
it is that affects the feet; and the public, finding defects in their
horses going from causes which were not at once apparent, have ac-
quiesced m the mysterious nature of this art, which we hope to be
enabled, m the following pages, to develope sufficiently for every one
to have a right apprehension of it.

This tenderness in the fore feet of horses, and especially in the
saddle horses, from its varying in the same animal so much, has cre-
ated great embarrassment; and some are so differently affected to

others, that it has added to the intricacy of it. Some horses are
continually tripping without ever falling; others are bolder in their
step and appear less affected, but fall at once and with more serious
consequences; others are only brought to stepping shortly; others
go wholly on the toe, as the shoe if examined evinces; these arise
from the same cause operating on different feet and different con-
stitutions of the horse; the autumnal season, from its weakening
influence on horses, will subject them to feel it more, and render
them at this season liable to more casualties, though no season is
exempt.

There is often, I have observed, much shyness in speaking of
these things among men, for fear these errors should be imputed to
a want of jockey ship ; and few inquiries are made about them for
the same reason : no man likes to make inquiries about horses, for
that would imply a want of knowledge.

Another of the strong causes which have tended to keep this
matter in obscurity, has been the great repugnance which individuals
have to admit any thing which tends to diminish the value of their
animal, especially if they had any intention of selling him ; therefore
dealers and jockeys treated the defect in the lightest way possible,
and even denied the truth of its existence. The fear also of being
regarded as a bad horseman, and wanting address to keep the horse
up, leads others to the same conduct of not admitting it. When,
however, circumstances of this sort have not existed, it has not been
difficult to get an avowal from reasonable persons of the truth of
this position. And my own experience in riding very many horses
has but rendered me too much a witness of this tenderness, and
which by others less acquainted with the nature of it, has been often
followed by consequences the most lamentable, and has never failed
to lead to the early misery and premature destruction of the horse
himself. If it was not so, why use rending bits and cruel irons,
whips and spurs, to an animal that in a general way would be easily
led by the smallest cord when in health and free from pain ? It is by

these irons that they hope to arrest the attention of the horse, and keep
him from too much regarding the feelings of his feet: without this
tenderness they would certainly not be necessary. And the cunning
grooms, generally on these occasions, if such accident should happen,
throw the fault of the horse upon the rider, by saying, (if it is not to
himself that it has happened) that " he has thrown his horse down," as
though the horse's fault was not of himself, but somehow the fault
oi the rider. In following this change in the feet attentively, we
may perceive that from time to time, at different periods of his early
life, that it is accompanied with the most extreme distress and weak-
ness upon the limbs, of which the rider, however deficient in feeling,
cannot but be sensible, and which neither the whip nor the spur can
keep him many yards from becoming ready to drop : in some jour-
neys we have had, we have felt this with indescribable anguish, and
the more, perhaps, from knowing the real cause of it.

Accidents also are by no means rare : neither nobility, wealth, nor
even royalty itself, are exempted from them, and which will happen
in spite of all the advantages of their situation.

The dreadful fall of Lord Deerhurst, by which he lost both his
eyes; of the Marquis of Tavistock; of the Marquis of Thomond;
and of others, are yet presented to the remembrance of our con-
temporaries : and William the Conqueror himself, after all his toils,
fatigues, and dangers of war, found his death in the fall of his horse;
having been thrown forwards upon the pommel of the saddle, he was
so bruised that he died of the injury. This accident, by the monkish
historians of the time, was imputed to a judgment from Heaven upon
him, as a punishment for his cruelty in burning down the town of
Mantes in Normandy; others said, the horse put his foot on a live
cinder of the burning town, which it is very unlikely he could have
felt through his shoe and hoof, or which if he felt, there was nothing
to prevent his removing away from: whichever of these causes it was,
it is a singular circumstance, and worthy of remark, that he was, as
there is every reason to believe, the first who introduced the present

PL A// .

Tig. Z,

mode of fettering horses' feet into England, and was one of the first
victims of the art he introduced. ,

No one, I believe, will have the hardihood to deny the danger of
mounting horses thus mutilated. Among my acquaintance and friends
I could relate many instances of miserable accidents, and the news-
papers are furnishing plenteous proof every day, in support of this
assertion. The appearance also of broken knees proclaim every-
where the little assurance there is on feet that have been so igno-
rantly treated.

A very large coach proprietor in London, (Willan,) struck with the
misery of the bearing rein, and perhaps a broken jaw or two, ordered
all his horses to be freed from them. On being put to work, the
accidents with their knees became so extensive, that he was again
compelled to relinquish his humane endeavours, and resort to this
most cruel alternative, at least as it is often made use of.

The present system of shoeing, and its consequences, ruin such
multitudes of horses, that surely the discovery of its cause, beyond
the power of denial, cannot but be of the highest importance in the
affairs of mankind; as well also as on account of the sufferings of
the animal; for not one in thirty of all that are raised live to see the
half of their natural life expended !

I have also remarked, that the most frequent accidents happen to
the horse about the fifth year of his age, and which has appeared to
me to arise from this cause,�that the great conflict between the iron
and the foot arrives at its height about this period, and that after
this the poor sufferer learns to go in a manner that is more suited to
his actual condition, that is, with a shortened step, humouring the
state of the parts, and in which there is less danger of falling; and
the foot after this period yields a more passive submission to the
overpowering effects of the iron and nails.

The different form of the shoe which by hand are never made
twice alike, and the different direction of the nails, which no one can
certainly direct, or know whether bent or straight in passing through

the hoof, will also occasion endless difference even in the best hands.
All these causes, simple as they may appear, had cast a formidable
and almost impenetrable veil over these arts.

There is also other ways of viewing these things, and entrapping
the understanding, rather than entering into a troublesome inquiry
about them; and if a complaint is made of the bad going of the
horse, it is easily stated that it arises from too hard service; or if it
be in great towns, that it is their going on the stones. Yet do we
find these defects as frequently in the country as in towns, and as
often among horses which are hardly used at all as with those which
are fully employed.

If the stable-keeper is asked why his horses are so tender before ?
and why there needs so much trouble to keep them up�so much so,
that all pleasure in riding is destroyed ? his answer is, " Why, horses
to be sure will by use become leg-weary, and every one who knows
any thing about horses knows that well enough;" and with a smile at
the simplicity of the inquirer, he quits the subject.

If any one, not having the usual awe of this character, should ask
the coachman why he wants two or three kinds of irons to be put in
his horse's mouth, his answer will be, " Why, would any one be so
mad as to attempt to drive without them ? " Then if you are appre-
hensive of your horses' falling,�what is the cause of this? " Go
ask the smiths ; they can tell you better about it�they don't shoe
them safely."

If the shoeing-smith be inquired of respecting this matter, and
how does the horse become tender ?��" Why, it is to-be-sure from
always standing in the dry litter of the stables; and that is plain
enough, for the hind feet are never affected, because they are more
in the dung and moisture, which makes it clear enough;" and thus
this business is disposed of without further trouble among them.
And these answers would serve to hinder a deeper research into the
actual causes of them. Such were the usual apprehensions and

opinions of those to whom the public had been used to listen with
most attention in these matters.

Lafosse, many years ago, in France, advanced a fair step beyond
such idle opinions as the above, by asserting, after anatomically con-
sidering the structure and functions of the foot, that this evil of ten-
derness proceeded from the elevation of the foot from the ground by
the shoe, and the consequent removal of the frog from pressure,
which its situation in the foot appeared to him to demand; and in
order to remove this difficulty, he strongly urged the use of a thin-
heeled shoe.*

Mr. Coleman, the professor of the Veterinary College, has main-
tained also the same opinion. It would appear, however, that if the
cause of the evil had really lain here, his patent artificial frog, by
bringing the supposed requisite pressure to this part, would have
long ago removed the mischief, which it does not appear to do : nor
will it be our business at present to consider, supposing this theory
to be true, what would be the consequence of bringing strong pres-
sure upon the frog, while the quarters or sides of the foot, confined
by the nails, or rendered stiff and unyielding by any other circum-
stance, should resist the expansion. Suffice it to say, that the con-
ditions premised of the natural foot would be changed; as the foot so
treated would be no longer in its natural state ; and of course the
reasonings made upon that foot as in a state of nature become in-
conclusive, and the result afforded by the actual experiment gives
proof of this. For experience, the severe test and arbiter of the
truth of all our reasonings, has shown, that there was some acting
cause which stood in the way of the practical use of these doctrines
of pressure on the frog; and that, notwithstanding the strong reasons
urged in the support of it, neither in France, where it was first pro-
pagated, nor in England, did the low-heeled shoe gain ground, or

* La Nouvelle Pratique sur la Ferrure. Paris, 1758, p. 110.

has it been much used; for in so serving the frog, if the pressure
was at all considerable, it was sure to bring on a heat of the foot,
and on farther exercise in this way, a tenderness that the rider could
not but be sensible of; and if pushed still farther, lameness. When we
come to consider the structure and real office of the frog, these effects
of strong pressure, or of battering upon the ground, will no longer
be matter of surprise. And Mr. Coleman has since shod again
with a thick-heeled shoe, and afterwards another, provided with an
internal clip to rest against the bar of the foot, for which he has also
obtained a patent; and these have been followed by two others, also
equally well imagined.* We believe we shall be perfectly able to

Viz., the Spit-bar and Grasshopper shoes. The former is made with a flat bar of
iron from its inner margin, opposite the toe, and passing backwards, is made to lodge
upon the frog, and is then nailed on! The other is with a steel spring welded upon
the upper surface of the shoe near the heels, intended to rest against the column of in-
flexion ! What a monopoly of patents is here ! the ill success and failure of one half
of them would have been sufficient to have opened the eyes, and sunk the confidence
of any man of less front than our professor; and such grasping too from one whose
situation affords him such ample advantages in patronage and emolument.

Ihis last patent having no view to the squeezing of the frog, leads one to apprehend
that this miserable and senseless proposition is at last abandoned by him, which we
cannot but rejoice at, as it is the second time it has been made the scourge of these
worthy, defenceless creatures: for before Lafosse's death, it had again got into disuse
from the smiths finding, however specious it was in theory, that it did not do in prac-
tice, but without its rejection being attended with any enlightened views or exposition
of the cause of its want of success. The revival of it in this country is much to be
lamented, as the prejudices of early education are not easily overcome, nor will the
effects of it probably be entirely lost in more than twenty years ; so widely and indus-
triously has it been diffused and enforced with such a peremptory mandate of acqui-
escence in the examinations of the humano medical committee of examiners for
granting diplomas.

I record these shoes also as it were for way-marks or useful points in the history of
the art, that they should never again be brought forward to torment the horses or to
agitate the profession. This last shoe I shall advert to again when treating of the in-
tortional column of the hoof.

Th_e institution itself is truly noble; and if well conducted, and in good hands,
would be a great public benefit.�All I have now to wish is, that the professor should

clear up this difficulty respecting the thin-heeled shoe in our account
of the frog, and to show the cause of its failure ; and also why
horses in general (as daily practice confirms) go so much better in
shoes with thick heels, or at least, which is better, with a level shoe,
or in a shoe with calkins ; for the gradually thickening heel I do not
for strong reasons approve.

Much is often said among the amateurs about this and that prin-
ciple of shoeing. It does not appear, however, that any slight alter-
ation in the configuration of the iron or the surfaces of the shoe
deserves that title ; the discretion in applying and fitting it admits
also of infinite variety of gradations, and these have been often mis-
takenly termed principles also ; and, as though there, were two kinds
of shoeing, we hear of good and bad shoeing, without these terms
having met with any settled meaning or definition.

It is the principle of all the shoeing at present known, to attach
the iron for the defence of the foot to it by means of nails driven
somewhat diagonally through the lower portions of the hoof,�the
manner of figuring the iron, of disposing the nails, of driving them
at different distances from the coffin bone, or the manner and degree

not quit his situation, but begin a total change of measures respecting the foot, suited
to the novel discoveries that have been actually made and in this country; he may yet
have time to do a great deal of good if he sincerely and honestly takes it in hand,
and also to open the councils of the college as wide as any can desire,�for what secrets
can there be in a horse-college if rightly conducted ? And to let veterinary surgeons
be the examiners of candidates for the profession, which it is but quite natural and
proper they should be, and let them be numerous, and the examination public, that
there be no favour or collusion. We might then expect to see a good sound horse-
school, and veterinarians worthy of public confidence, and not six, and even three
months pupils receiving the sanction of the college as fully qualified veterinarians,
which we know to have been the case, fairly inundating the country with them for the
paltry consideration of the fee. And let whoever will become subscribers to it; for
the reader will be astonished to learn that a veterinarian, even of his own making,
cannot become a subscriber to it from a law made in the hole and corner committee:
the cause of such exclusion may be easily guessed,�it excludes the only persons who
understand and feel its abuses.

of paring away the foot, are all discretional circumstances only,
though they materially affect the feet and manner of going of the
horse, yet are not properly difference of principle, but are acted
upon in endless variety, according to the fancy of the workman, and
often with more mischievous consequences than the principle itself
necessarily entails; and to separate what is owing to the one, and
what to the other, is truly difficult where both are injurious.

I had thoughts of separately considering each of these conditions,
and laying down more precise rules for them, that the workmen
might have some more regular guide for their labours; but dis-
covering a flagrant and unexpected defect in the nature of the prin-
ciple itself, I have devoted my first labours to the making that
demonstrative and clear.

It is matter of great surprise to me now, that so obvious a circum-
stance could even for a day have escaped my notice ; but so strong
are the prejudices of education and habit, and the perplexity arising
from the usual phrases of the workmen about these things, with a
certain fear of forming opinions on what appeared to be so mysterious
a subject, that years passed with it daily before me without my per-
ceiving this now obvious fact. Mr. Moorcroft, I observe, in one part
°f his publication, has stated that the foot from a round is reduced
to an oval by shoeing; but here he leaves the subject without a
comment, and falls afterwards into the commonly entertained views

the ff⁶ ^thlnSS ^: ^and ^0smer' ^man>^r y^ears ^back' ^had obscure ideas of
e e ects of the compression of the feet from shoeing; yet neither

t*ll J^T^⁶ °^r ^ ^otller ⁱⁿ ^tnese ^wri^ters had struck me on perusal,
il the facts I _am _about _tQ _expQSe _fuHy _opened _them _tQ _my _yiew.

though now it is clear they had both alluded to this circumstance ;
yet, from the general tenor of their works, they seemed only to
apprehend these consequences from shoeing in particular cases, and
understood not what it was that did it.

tr trf ^SUSpicions ^once awakened, could not rest long without their
or falsehood being proved; and, whilst contemplating the cir-

cumstances with considerable anxiety of mind, an experiment for
ascertaining it suggested itself,�that of taking casts in plaster from
any sound, healthy foot, under the influence of the shoeing process,
and repeating those casts from one period to another, and comparing
them with each other; they would then afford me the particulars of
change that might take place, and the quantum of diminution of the
foot in a given time. Other circumstances unfolded themselves, that
were not looked for, as the experiment proceeded, of which we shall
now present the reader with the details, so as fully to establish the
important fact of the mischievous effects of iron and nails, or of
common shoeing rather, upon the horse's foot. The broaching an
opinion so at variance with common apprehension and prejudice,
would, I well knew, without the clearest evidence, only serve to draw
upon me the ridicule of the world, that I was well pleased when I
found the thing could be made demonstrable ; for how little the fact
I am about to disclose was really felt or suspected before by the
writers on these subjects, the very numerous works of my contempo-
raries will sufficiently show. And I may observe, it was during a
painful research in making shoes to be put on without nails that I
first began to perceive it; and what is extraordinary, the general
principle on which hinged the phenomenon still remained unknown
to me for more than a twelvemonth after discovering the true cause
of contraction.

Any one would very naturally infer that, if I was employed in
making shoes to avoid the nails, it was because I saw the ill effects of
the nails upon the foot,�no such thing: I had at this period no dis-
tinct apprehension of it; and it was to avoid the use of shoeing-
smiths and their mal-practices, and in order that every man might be,
or by his servant at least, his own shoer,�so near may we be to a
thing, and not perceive it.* And when the thought first came over

* The great difficulty of entertaining a new principle will not appear surprising if we
reflect that for two thousand years the simple fact of fluids rising to their level, though

me that it was the resistance of the nails that caused all this mischief,
it was accompanied with an involuntary suffusion of countenance that
I shall never forget, from feeling that I saw, probably for the first
time, what had never been seen before, in the same sense of view at
least; and the feeling was immediately accompanied with a happy
assurance that the evil was then truly seen, and that it would be
ultimately removed. But what opposition have I met with, and from
whom ! That I might expect no mercy from the smiths, whose
affairs I had exposed, was quite natural; but that the veterinarians,
whose cause I had laboured and gained, should be made by inte-
rested knavery my greatest persecutors, was not to be believed. I
trusted that if they were attempted to be deceived, they would, as I
should have done, have looked and examined for themselves; not
trusting to those whose momentary interest, perhaps, it might be to
betray: but in this I was also disappointed ; for they condemned me
unheard, and without examination. They thought they had their
accounts from one who had read, and that was enough; that he
would mislead them they could not suppose; and to misrepresent
and slight me was the order of the day, which for twenty years I have
borne in silence.

I now proceed to the details of an experiment that, in the import-
ance of its results, and efficacy of its demonstrations, 1 may safely
assert is second to none that ever was made on the subject of horses

exhibiting a cause of animal suffering which is beyond the utter-
ance of language to express; and what is more, showing in what a
simple way it may readily be removed, and has been removed in
thousands of cases already, as the testimonies given to the public

presenting daily to the eye of every one, was not understood upon principle so as to be
acted upon for this long period; the immense labours of the ancient aquaducts suffi-
ciently prove the fact; and the daily periodical works and magazines, which treat of
these affairs of horses, will show the difficulty that many have to comprehend it now
its cause is demonstrably shown, and the evasive nonsense they use as though to
avoid the seeing it.

along with the description of the new mode of shoeing most fully
and unanswerably testify.*

It has been an iron age indeed with them, and not in a metaphor-
ical, but literal sense. And I should not have insisted so much on
the importance of what I have done, as may be seen in my first
edition, where these things are narrated in the most unassuming
manner, and my discoveries hardly claimed as such, if they had not
been so basely attempted to be depreciated.

Commencement of the Experiment.

A young blood mare of great beauty, and turned of five years old,
was brought to my shoeing forge in Giltspur-street from Weymouth
Mews to be shod, that had been bred by George Hobson, Esq., and
permitted to run wild and unshod till her fifth year, that her strength
and growth should be as much as possible completed before she was
brought into use. The opportunity so extraordinarily aiforded me
of making the experiment was not to be lost; for a second, I thought,
might not occur; and such another has in reality never occurred to
this day.�Timid, and unused to have her feet meddled with, to get
an impression was attended with some difficulty : the plaster of Paris
was poured upon her foot held sole upwards; but before it could
well set, she grew uneasy at the position, and, dashing her foot to the
ground, broke it in a thousand pieces; and a second also in the
same way. After this, as might be expected, she grew more impatient
at being handled, and I almost despaired of succeeding. Being sur-
rounded by many persons, I hoped to effect it better if she was led
alone to the stable; and giving her a feed of corn, in order to take
off her attention, I placed the foot, unperceived by her, in a bowl
containing plaster wetted with warm water, that it might set the

* Description of the new Tablet Shoe of Expansion; with numerous testimonials.
Second Edition, 1827.

more quickly. After waiting a few minutes, and the plaster had
become perfectly hard, I drew it away without much difficulty, which
exhibited a complete impression of her foot in all its circumstances.
This was done in the presence of my worthy and much-esteemed
friend, Mr. John Biddle of Birmingham, on the fourth day of June,
1804, who felt kindly interested in the successful issue of the at-
tempt, and in the nature of this inquiry.

After smearing this impression or mould with a little lard to prevent
adhesion, some fresh plaster was cast upon it: I thus obtained the
figure of the foot represented in Plate I.; and for the beauty and
symmetry of its parts, nature perhaps does seldom surpass it.

That the reader who is not much used to the study of horses may
make himself acquainted with the parts of the horse's foot, we shall
here describe them in a general manner. They are given for this
purpose as large as in nature, that there might be less possibility of
error; for the natural horse's foot has never, I believe, before been
very truly represented; and by doing this he will be the more pre-
pared to trace the changes it is doomed to undergo by artificial aid.
The representation has been admitted, both by the draftsman and
engraver, to be attended with difficulty; and but for the kind assist-
ance of my very worthy and ingenious friend Mr. Sydenham Edwards,
it would not have been near so well represented as it is : we may
also remark, that a tolerably distant view of it, as laying it on the
ground, makes it appear to more advantage than a nearer one.

Chap. II.�On the Foot. The animal machine viewed generally�
its construction and manner of bearing on the foot. Various pro-
visions in the attachments and position of the limbs and foot to
prevent concussion. The division of the parts of the foot and of
the hoof. The important principle of elasticity laid down and
exemplified in various animals. The wall of the Hoof�its ge-
neral form and particular construction-�its inflexions. The dis-
covery of the Frog-band-�the outer surface�inner surface. The
keraphylla described, and podophylla. Composition of the
Hoof, 8fc.

Having secured a cast in plaster of the foot of the mare, I propose
to wait twelve months, in order to see any and what changes may
have taken place in the foot during this period, exposed to the pow-
erful operation of iron and nails. And now, dismissing for awhile the
further consideration of the subject of the experiment, enter into a
consideration of the construction of the organ that has been thus
treated.

I may in this place just observe, that in my first entering on this
work, I had only in view to make known the true cause of tenderness
in horses' fore feet by the experiment we have begun to describe, and
had no view to any anatomical investigation ; but being led to look at
the foot more closely as an elastic organ, to explain the phenomena
of the experiment, its structure became manifest, and formed in the
first edition a very long parenthetical insertion in the midst of the
experiment, and which arrangement, to remove the dryness and form-
ality of mere anatomical description, I have here pursued also in this
edition; concentrating the matter, however, and giving it more of
order and method, and adding what appeared necessary; and it is
singular that it was not till I had gone far in that work that I fully
perceived that it was to the principle of elasticity that all the pheno-

mena were attributable, and that they could be solved upon, and
that it pervaded all feet as a fundamental principle.

In the former edition, (1809,) some remarks on the absurdity of
the term heels, when applied to the horse's foot, were inserted at this
part of the work, and which led into a view of the appearances of
the foetal foot of the horse : both these considerations we now defer
to a future opportunity; since the foetal foot cannot be very well
understood by the reader till the horse's foot has been treated of; as
many of its parts are new and hitherto undescribed, and are as yet
without names: we therefore proceed without farther preamble to a
consideration of the adult horse's foot; and this description, we trust,
will be found widely different from any description that has ever
hitherto been attempted on this subject. And in order to entertain
as comprehensive a knowledge of this organ as we can obtain, we
first take a survey, in a very cursory manner, of the machine which it
is destined to support and to carry; and we may then remark how
this weight is brought and disposed to bear upon it, and what are the
provisions which exist to prevent any injury to the foot, or of any
concussion or reaction to the body.

The body, or the trunk of the horse, appears to be fashioned not
much unlike a boat, and is formed of rounded, swelling ribs, as in
that machine; the sternum has also very much the appearance of
the keel of a vessel, and resembles this part in a remarkable manner
anteriorly. Now these ribs as they approach above, are closed by
the spine, forming a sort of deck or roofing to the vessel, and which
is greatly strengthened every where by various eminences and pro-
cesses of bone rising high above, and projecting strongly on the sides
of this ridge or mid-stay of the deck, if we may be allowed the ex-
pression; and which is then carried out beyond the boat in both direc-
tions, forming anteriorly the neck to which is appended the head, and
at the other or opposite end, widening first at the sacrum, it ter-
minates more simply by the caudal extremity, or tail, which, however,
^ls ^made of considerable length, and is in the living animal most mag-

nificently furnished with hair, so that it becomes no mean counter-
poise, at least in appearance, to the larger head of the opposite
extremity, and thus eminently contributes to the beauty, grace, and
symmetrical appearance of the animal.

Being filled with the various viscera for its life, maintenance, and
direction, it is necessary that this boat should now be suspended in
the air, and receive the means of its being supported and conveyed
about, for which purpose the limbs are provided, placed in pairs, or
double columns at either extremity of the machine.*

The two fore columns or limbs, we may observe, are vastly en-
larged at their upper parts, and their surface extended, as we see
with the shoulder-blades and arms, in order to their firm attachment
to the ribs, and the trunk or boat is then suspended or slung between
them, resting upon them by various points of attachment, of a soft
and lax nature of tendon and muscle ; and these fore limbs, we may
remark, having to sustain a much greater share of the weight than
the hind limbs, receive a perpendicular direction also, thus affording
to them the greatest strength of a column : these limbs, however, do
not reach the ground in following this perpendicular direction, as
that would have given too great a shock ; but on arriving near the
ground they take a new course or direction anteriorly, and by a suc-
cession of three distinct bones, the pastern, the coronet, and the
coffin bone, and their respective joints not only divert the line of
bearing and direction, but soften the impression to all the parts
above and below, as also more remarkably by the extensive spring this
angle affords. And the last of these three bones is yet farther most
eminently provided with the means of defending itself from abrupt
collision or sudden shock by the capacious covering of the hoof and
its spring; which at the same time also very much serves to enlarge

* For a more full account of this admirable arrangement, see a description of the
section of the horse: with a superb coloured figure, price �2. 2s.; and without this,
10*. Qd.

the quantity of bearing surface of the foot upon the ground, which
in these fore feet is much more extensive than in those behind; and
their pliancy also, as we have stated, is more considerable.

The hind limbs, placed near to the opposite extremity of the ma-
chine, which is very much enlarged and Strengthened to receive
them, having a less weight to support, have not the perpendicular
direction of the fore hmbs given them, but are thrown into angles for
impelling the body when in quick action, and by their collapse, pro-
jection, and subsequent extension, impel the body forward: the
point of the limb in this movement appears for this purpose to be
carried out forwards anterior to the centre of motion, and like a
fixed radius, is brought to act against the ground, and the body is
then shot over it by the power of the muscles of the haunch, which
are necessarily immensely large, as they are acting to a mechanical
disadvantage so very near to the centre of motion. And in order
that none of the force or momentum should be lost, these limbs are
attached to the trunk, not by soft muscle as in the fore extremities,
but by a solid bony connection, having a strong ball and socket
joint; and the hind feet to be in conformity with these limbs in
office and effect, are made harder, loftier, firmer, and less yielding
than the fore feet. Now the whole weight or impression of the
animal, it would appear, becomes finally dispersed and lost on three
chief points, so as not to be severely felt by either of them, that is,
upon the fetlock joint, the deep front of the hoof, and the posterior,
and more yielding elastic parts of the foot. And it farther appears
probable, that under particular circumstances it may happen accord-
ing to the will of the animal that either of these points can be made
to receive a greater share, and be the bearer of more weight; and
in cases of tender feet, the animal giving his weight more to the
toe or to the fetlock, and less to the posteriors of the foot, as when

ese parts have suffered by contraction and absorption, the strain or
^s ress being then greater upon the above parts, their relaxation and

enlargement will earlier take place, and which will explain the cause
of these very frequent appearances, and also of their being so often
strained there.

From this short sketch of the general machine, we pass now to
the foot itself, the chief object of our inquiries ; and that the reader
may be able fairly to contemplate this organ, we have provided him,
and for the first time it was ever very correctly represented, with a
real view of this interesting part, the horse's natural foot, (see Plate I.)
uncontaminated by art, at five years old, and pretty fully developed;
and to prevent error* it is given of the full size of life, in a horse of
more than fifteen hands. It was executed by Thomas Milton, an
engraver of great celebrity, who was, at different periods, three years
employed upon it, and often declared it an object of considerable
difficulty.

As method and arrangement gives force and clearness to any
subject we are about to treat, so I shall divide the whole mass of the
foot, as taken from the limb, into three classes of parts, viz., the
Bones, or central nucleus of the foot; the attaching parts, which
are disposed between the bones and the hoof; and the Hoof itself.
This last we now propose to consider, and believe we shall have to
unfold many new and unknown traits respecting it. The hoof again
I also divide into three parts,�the Wall, the Frog, and the Sole.
But before entering into a description of these different parts, we
believe it will greatly facilitate our right apprehensions of the subject
if we first take into our view and consideration a most indispensable
property necessary to the construction of all feet, which, though of
an abstract nature, is able, if duly reflected upon, to explain the mis-
takes and hidden mysteries that have for so many ages involved this
art of shoeing, and concealed its wretched effects in almost impene-
trable darkness, and which simple property every part of the hoof is

formed in relation, and made subservient to. I here allude to the
simple principle of Elasticity, or the condition of an elastic yielding
of the hoof to every degree of impression of the weight or of exer-
tion of the animal brought upon it.

This inestimable property it is that guarantees the foot from
fatigue, preserves it from jar, and the body from re-action and con-
cussion, and all the injuries which a too solid resistance would have
occasioned to both, and probably assisting also the animal in his
advances by a return to its former figure after distension.

Examples of the general property of Elasticity in feet.

For the clearer developement of this principle, I shall now select
among the various families of the quadruped world some striking
examples where its existence and beneficial effects may be conspi-
cuously perceived, and afterwards exhibit it in the foot of the horse
more fully, where this property for certain reasons is not so obvious,
and which has caused it hitherto to have been overlooked, occa-
sioning to this most worthy animal for a long period the grossest
injustice, and the infliction of incalculable suffering and misery.

The feet of quadrupeds, we may remark, in their different races,
are very differently constructed for meeting the ground, and for sup-
porting their bodies.�Some of these, which are extremely light
and active, and which appear to live on trees, almost as the birds,
rather than on the ground, as the Squirrel, have their feet formed
of long digitations or fingers only, with long horny claws and curved, in
order to the running up the trunks of trees, sticking into the bark,
and which also enable them to hold themselves if there is occa-
sion, and to run along suspended in a surprising manner to the
underside of the branches; and some of this agile family may be
almost called beasts of the air, for they can fly from tree to tree, and
even descend from the tops of the highest trees of the forest to the
ground by making a parachute of their lax and very extended skins;
^a ^qve» our own common squirrel will descend in this way through

the air to the ground by the singular measure of a swift rotation of
his bushy tail. And the foot, by its length and elasticity, contributes
also in these to soften the fall, and render it less felt: and in every
animal this part is constructed with a view to the particular soil which
he treads, and to the particular mode of life he pursues, but in all
it is made elastic ; for example :

In the Camel, the foot, in order to its being non-resistant, is first di-
vided deeply into two parts, each furnished with a very strong and
broad claw : besides this, underneath each hoof is found an elastic
pad, into which the hoof sinks, and is embedded all round as in a
soft stuffed cushion, and rising up the sides of the foot, keeps off the
effects of the hot and scorching sands of those regions, which nature
has more especially doomed him to: this extension of surface also
must cause him less to sink into them; the whole apparatus affording
the highest degree of elasticity and ease the foot is capable of re-
ceiving, especially necessary in those hot countries.

In the Dog, nature, or a kind providence rather, has placed a large
triangular pad in the middle of the foot, covered outside with tough
horny skin: and another of a similar description, and smaller, is found
at the origin or base of each claw; and these appear to be formed
within of tough Jibro or tendino cartilaginous materials, and are
covered, as we have said, exteriorly with a hard horny skin. This
organization affords an elastic bearing for the animal, and breaks the
force of concussion upon the ground in passing rapidly over it. This
effect also is contributed to, and much augmented by, a division of
the bones of the metatarsus into four parallel ranges, giving to all
these parts a remarkable flexibility.

As to the Cat, we may remark, that her foot the moment that it
meets the ground, descending from any height, is seen widely to
expand, and that the fingers and the claws spread on all sides to
widen the surface of bearing and deaden the shock. We observe
also mats or cushions in the centre of her foot and at the root of the
claws, performing the same office as in the dog; they are, however,

of a softer nature, but fully sufficient for an animal so obviously'
light, small, and active. A nobler example is the lion's paw.

In the Ox there is not properly any mat or cushion to the foot;
the claws, however, are thinner on the inside; but in this sort of
simple cloven foot, which is common to a very large share of the
quadruped world, the elastic principle necessary to these parts is
chiefly accomplished by a longitudinal division of the podal and
juxta-podal bones of the foot as high up as the fetlock joint; and
this division gives to these parts all the suppleness of which there is
need, and affords an easy yielding to the impression of the weight,
and destroys any jar or repercussion to the body. The two claws also
on meeting the ground, if it is soft, will separate, receiving the earth
between them, and so will diminish the suddenness of the impression,
and also widen the bearing surface and render the foot more fixed
and firm on the ground. This flexibility, indeed, in some of these
animals exists to such a degree, as in the cows for instance, that the
sight of it is almost disgusting, when the weight of their bodies re-
poses strongly upon it; but we are reconciled to it when we reflect
that this same property, though somewhat unsightly, is particularly
well adapted to the general structure and uses of these invaluable
creatures, and to the innocent and peaceful habits to which a kind
providence has ordained them.

The Elephant possesses in an eminent degree this elasticity of
the foot; his immense body is sustained on four columns, placed
almost perpendicularly underneath this ponderous weight. Their
bases, or inferior extremities, repose upon a vast mat or pad, made of
a material apparently between horn and cartilage : this central mass
resembles a strong piece of sole leather or raw pelt, and this foot is
exteriorly divided into five parts, each terminated by a very strong
horny claw or hoof; one of these, and larger, is placed in front, and
the other two are disposed on each side. It is not improbable that
these claws, when the animal is in quick movement, will aid him,
by taking a share of the weight, and by being forced strongly against

the ground, dig into it, and give perhaps a certain degree of fixed-
ness to his march.

The Foot of Man, on pressing against the ground, extends and
dilates in a very visible manner in all directions; and as the upper
leather of the shoe is much thinner than the sole, so it readily
permits this change of form; and also the hollow which is observable
beneath the foot, and which we call the planta, or sole, and which
represents a kind of vault or arch, sinks, and flattens on receiving the
weight, and consequently extends, thus preventing any jamming or
condensation of the parts together, and so preserves to all of them
their natural freedom and liberty.

In respect to the Horse, this indispensable property has also an
existence in his foot, but in a much inferior degree, and perhaps less
so, as I have already observed, than in any other animal. But we
shall not be astonished at this, if we reflect that with him is accom-
plished one of the most difficult problems in mechanics, that is to
say, the moving of a large and heavy body with an extraordinary
degree of velocity, and for the surmounting this difficulty, a remark-
able degree of solidity appears to have been imparted to his foot by
a hoof of one piece, in order that nothing of the momentum afforded
by the osseous and muscular machinery should be lost. And without
doubt this solidity it was of the foot of the horse that has occasioned
this elastic property to be so long wholly overlooked, and has led
these smiths to treat it more as a senseless block of wood without
any motion than as a living elastic organ, most elaborately con-
structed for these extraordinary performances, and whose construction,
these circumstances premised, we now resume the consideration of.

We do not propose, in giving this account of the foot, to enter
into a tedious detail of minute circumstances of a common-place
nature in the construction of the foot, as such cannot explain the

arts of shoeing, and its difficulties and mysteries, though it might
very well serve, as it has done before with some, to make a book for
sale; but intend to confine ourselves chiefly to the hoof itself, which
will nearly explain all that is necessary. In order to illustrate these
subjects, we shall divide the hoof into its constituents of three dis-
tinct parts, which has not been attended to before, and view them
afterwards connectedly, to show that they produce by their com-
bination not only a box of horn for the covering the foot, as it has
been hitherto generally regarded, but also a most beautiful machine,
possessing remarkable properties, and an almost indefinite power of
yielding to the load, a property as indispensable as the defence ancl
protection that it so obviously affords.* We commence with its chief
member.

Of the Wall of the Hoof.
Its name.�General form. All the exterior part of the hoof,
which is seen by the eye when the foot is placed upon the ground,
we call the wall of the hoof, for, like the wall of a building, it sustains
all the more delicate parts within, and serves to protect them from
the injury of the external elements: the French also call this part
for the same reason la muraille, or the wall, which we vastly prefer
to the miserable term crust, by which some have designated it, and

* As this work may for some time be a work of reference in our art, so I take the
earliest opportunity of explaining to those who may not have studied the Greek lan-
guage, the signification of the two words used in the title, the utility of which, as dis-
tinctive names will be found at all times in speaking of or referring to this work, as
they may be used at full length or in any abbreviation, as Clark's Hipponomy, or simply
Clark's Podonomy, instead of a long tedious explanatory title, which in English would
have been necessary; for new terms are best to fix new arts. The first of these,
Hippodonomia, is derived from <�s, a horse; «w, «*». » ^foot5 ^and "°^M°^S' ^a ^law"
The other is from �, �8�_s, _a foot; and *8°p«, corruption or destruction; from the
same root, *0«p�, as our common word Phthisis used for the complaint called a con-
sumption. And to those desirous of an abbreviation, Podora would supply a term ot
easy use.

which can aiford no idea of its rich organization or properties, but
must ever serve to convey a truly mean and baker-like notion of it.

The wall, when separately considered, (see plate 2, fig. 2,) must be
regarded as the basis of the hoof, or its principal member, and the
other two parts, viz. the sole and the frog, as subordinates or acces-
saries only; and by so viewing the hoof, we shall arrive at more
just notions respecting it, and comprehend better its real formation.

Now as to the hind feet, they differ materially from the fore feet,
though hitherto confounded as the same, which is important to know
in respect to shoeing, as they are not so much affected by it; and
this circumstance has led many to doubt the truth of these illus-
trations, contending that as they are the same, the effect should be
the same of the iron upon them. Now we have formerly stated that
the weight of the animal falls with a different force upon the fore
and hind feet, and that the fore are more burthened with it: this
is one cause of their being made larger, and with more flatness also
and elasticity, that they might yield to the weight or projection; and
further also, that they might be in conformity of design with the
softer nature of the attachments of these extremities to the trunk.
Whilst the hind feet on the contrary are stouter in the wall, and lof-
tier, with the sole in front thicker, flatter, and more strongly attached
to the wall, and are less elastic. This is important to be known, as
it explains readily why the hind feet do not suffer so much by the
shoeing as the fore feet, and which has been made a stumbling-block
to many by leading them from seeing the real state of the case. For
the smiths urged in defence of their practice, that all the difference
in the hind feet not suffering was that they were exposed to the
dung of the stable, thereby inferring what was not true, that if the
fore feet were similarly exposed they would not suffer, and that it
was an affair of the dung only, or chiefly.

But the influence of such a cause, and which does hardly exist
where the stables are kept clean, must be truly insignificant com-
pared with the powerful operation of such agents as the iron and

nails : but to set this matter at rest, the reader will find further on an
experiment related, where the horse was shod for a twelvemonth, and
kept at grass the whole time; and the same contraction took place
as m the stable, which fully disproves these idle apprehensions.

Uut to return to the fore feet. The weight of the trunk reposing
on the limb, we have seen, is conveyed in a perpendicular direction
to the fetlock; there it is diverted by the juxta-podal bones, which
convey it to the foot, to the front of the hoof especially, being its
strongest and deepest part; from thence again, by the reclination of
this part backwards, it is determined in this direction towards the
posterior parts of the foot; and these having a double or two-fold
termination, with an eminently-elastic part lodged between them,
they readily yield to the impression, and soften its effects, (see pi. 2,
%. 1.) And in this way the elastic principle on which we insist is
fully established with the horse's foot. And further, this backwards
direction of the impression or weight, is vastly increased by the rapid
inclination which the two bones of the foot have (viz. the coffin and
shuttle bones) by their surfaces for articulation strongly sloping
towards these posterior parts of the foot, occasioning the foot not
only to dilate, but also to extend backwards.

Of the general figure of the Wall. A superficial view of the
hoof has very naturally led to the apprehension that it was of a
conical form, and it has been hitherto always so described : we shall
however show, and for the first time, (ed. 1,1809,) that this is wholly
incorrect, and that it could have answered no useful purpose if it had
been so made. Its fi_gure will be found to be truly that of a cylinder,
(see plate 2, fig. g,) which will be proved by observing that the pos-
enor terminations of it have the same direction or slope as the front
parts have, and are parallel to them, which could not have been the
case had it been a cone, as in that figure the projection or widening
jwnwards would have been on all sides alike; and the quarters,
a caT ^m,^proJ^ecting outwards, will be found by the application of
Renter's square gage to be nearly or quite parallel to the axis of

�

the cylinder; and in the most beautifully formed feet, the cylinder is
found to be almost perfect, unless the mere weight and excess of
growth beyond the sole interrupts it in a small degree.

The great utility of this general figure will be striking, if we con-
sider with how much more power a cylinder embraces its contents
than a cone, which'enlarging downwards, would not have prevented
the contents of the foot from slipping through on any strong exer-
tion of the animal, as the cone is ever presenting a wider area in this
direction." The painter or sculptor who is acquainted with this
principle, will very readily give its figure correctly; but in uncertainty
of its true form, or mistaking it for a cone, he will give a mixed,
confused, or erroneous representation of it; but in designing its
beautiful outline truly, we shall see hereafter that the frog-band and
the bulbs of the frog should not be omitted in its representation, and
which parts are also truly ornamental.

But that the hoof is really a cylinder within, may be maintained
from the direction of the Keraphylla, which are every where parallel:
had this internal surface been conical, they must have diverged, in
passing downwards to fill it, which seems to settle the question
beyond any cavil.* Besides, if the hoof had been a cone, by con-
tinually growing larger downwards, it would have greatly incom-
moded the animal; whereas a cylinder always remains the same : its
growth also would prove it, since how could the circle, once formed
at the coronet, receive within it any accessions afterwards, as such
would narrow the area of the hoof inside; and that nothing is really
added, a perpendicular section of the hoof shows plainly.

Now if we desire to prove this mathematical figure of the hoof, we
take a cylinder of wood of about two diameters long, and obliquely

* That I may render that justice to others I have in vain sought for myself, I may
here state, that this observation was lately made by my nephew, Charles Clark, whom I
invited over from America to my assistance, and who, I hope, may one day become an
ornament to his profession.

saw it asunder in the middle with a fine saw at an angle of about
thirty-three or thirty-five degrees to its axis, and place these pieces
with their cut side downwards on the table, we shall then have a
striking resemblance of two hoofs, that is, in respect to their general
figure; (see plate 2, fig. 3;) but if we want to have an idea of its
whole composition, we must make a cylinder of paper or pasteboard,
of larger dimensions by one half than the hoof to be represented,
and truncate or cut such cylinder across its axis obliquely almost to a
point, leaving enough only to hold the ends together, by then turning
these points from outward inward, towards the centre of the circle,
we shall have a lively view of all the main circumstances in the
actual construction of the wall; and at plate 2, fig. 5, is seen a
representation of a pasteboard cylinder, so cut before the ends are
turned in to represent the inflexions, and at figure six one with
the ends carried into their place.*

But although it be fundamentally true that the hoof is formed on
the principle of the cylinder,�and it is highly important to the
veterinarian to understand this,�yet, like most general laws, it is not
without exceptions and conditions ; for there are at times variations
in the lower parts of it, that is, chiefly in the parts below, or at the
insertion of the sole, or below the direct box of the hoof, where
either the operation of the sole in distending these parts by flattening
its arch, or the mere mechanical operation of the weight of the horse
causes a bulging in these lower parts, extending thereby its surface,
perhaps to obtain room, and may disturb but not at all destroy the
general principle; it is, however, found on examination by actual
admeasurement, much less than the eye alone would lead one to
apprehend, but we have thought it safest to state thus much to anti-
cipate the objectionist.

legant models of pasteboard, contained in a handsome box, with a description,
^iC" ^may ^be ^had ^of E. Limebeer, Giltspur-st.₃ or G. Underwood, Fleet-st., price 12s.'

The wall of the horse's hoof, we may remark, is highest at the toe,
pince,* or front parts, and regularly declines in height as it passes
backwards, forming the quarters; and at a certain point, still more
posteriorly, it has the appearance of being lost in mixing with the
frog and sole, as it will be generally seen represented in books and in
plates of the foot; but in reality it makes at this point a sudden and
unexpected turn inwards, forming an acute angle, with a sharp pro-
jecting edge backwards, and then continues its course, still diminish-
ing in height, to the centre of the foot, where it seems finally to be
lost in mixing with the sole; and thus simply is formed the shell or
external frame of the horse's hoof: see its plan, plate 2, fig. 2.

It is also to be further remarked, that as the hoof is thickest and
most solid at its front parts, or pince, so it becomes regularly thinner
as it declines in height and recedes backwards, and so through its
whole course to its termination at the centre of the foot; and
former writers have considered the bars or inflexions as somehow
parts of the sole rather than of the wall, and had no distinct notion
of the great simplicity and power of such an arrangement acting in
one piece, and which cannot but call forth our exalted admiration of
its supreme Architect.

These parts thus inflected are made to form a distinct and remark-
able internal wall, as it were, for the interior of the foot, within
the very cleft of the sole; and by their bold projection, protect
the sole and frog from an undue degree of pressure and contusion
against the ground.

These inflexions have been called the bars of the foot, as though to
convey an idea that they kept the wall from going inwards, or con-
tracting in its dimensions; but it is doubtful if they can really

* This useful French word I could wish to see adopted in English, in order to avoid
the awkward word Toe, which hut ill expresses the thing intended. It is probably de-
rived from the Latin, impingo, to impinge upon or invade*

perform such office, but seem to obey rather, and pass in with it if it
contracts, as we actually see take place in contracted feet. They
have a deflected appearance, or are inclining downwards and outwards,
that any pressure against them from the ground may drive them to
dilate or open outwardly and from the frog, and thus follow the
general dilatation of the wall and quarters, and prevent any painful
jamming or condensation of these tender parts. Their characteristic
appearance is very well given in the frontispiece, or plate I. Opposite
the middle of the frog they form a more spacious concavity, and then
suddenly close in approaching the point, especially on the inside
quarter, and near their termination, they become flakey and are less
coherent. Along their upper edges the frog is attached, and their
actual union with it we call The Commissure, after the manner of the
ancients. The hollow spaces formed by the lateral recedence of these
inflexions, we call the Cavities of the commissure. And in order to
speak of, or consider them more easily in their qualities, or adjectively,
we call them Intortiones, or intortional or inflexural parts, the
convenience and advantage of which will be often perceived in the
course of this work.

We may now remark that the sudden inflexion of the wall
gives it as it were a duplication, or doubling of the horn at these
places; and two stout columns of horn are thereby formed at these
points, of the greatest utility in the natural, and still more so in
the artificial defence of the hoof, for the iron to rest upon, without
the danger of its injuring the sole, or crushing or confining its
extreme point, which is but too often bruised by the shoe; and its
lacerated vessels giving out red blood, it is artfully termed a corn,
though human corns are not usually red, but are white, hardened,
and extended cuticle, from a morbid action induced by pressure and
friction, and have no sort of relationship to these bruises.�Now in
the natural hoof, these columns of the inflexions form below a hard
rounded knot, abundantly useful in defending from wear these pos-

terior parts, and from bruises the tender point of the sole below
them.*

And it is with painful feelings I am here led to observe, that in my
visit of eleven months to Paris last year, (1828,) where I was much
engaged in noticing their shoeing, I found that the horses generally,
especially those shod by veterinarians, were shod with a narrow, thin-
heeled shoe, which did not extend in a general way to these points
or columns. And as I understood by the recommendation of the
veterinary college of Alfort! indeed, on turning to Prof. Girard's
book, second edition, Paris, 1828, " Traite du pied des animaux do-
mestiques" he plainly recommends such a shoe : p. 58,60,68. I need
hardly add these poor horses were going most miserably crippling
and bad; and were strapt up and most unmercifully gagged by that
atrocious instrument of torture, the bearing rein, which is but too
often applied in a cruel manner to punish their unoffending jaws,
and to keep them from remembring their feet.f

* Coleman's Grasshopper Shoe is intended probably to ease these parts in low weak
feet, which there would be but little occasion for, if the smiths would be more merciful
with their knives, and accommodate the shoe to them by a slight deflexion of its plane
at the extremity of the branches ; and some are readily relieved by throwing them more
on the pince by calkins, but not all. This spring is unmechanical, and liable to choke
with dirt.

f What views the generality of these veterinarians might have in thus shortening the
shoe is truly hard to guess; but from one of the most intelligent with whom I con-
versed,�indeed he so stated,�that his main object was to prevent corns. I soon per-
ceived whence originated their fears in this respect, and that it arose from their opera-
tors, who, not satisfied with the mischief that in a few minutes a sharp buttress was
capable of doing, resorted to the use of a long piece of a sword-blade, and this driven
with a hammer, soon removed deep portions of the inflexural columns ; and these pro-
tecting points being removed on the inside and outside alike, the risk of corns would
certainly be very great, the sole being then exposed to the full effects of the iron. And
to avoid this, the shoe forsooth must be kept short of reaching these points ! instead
of altering their vile custom of not performing this delabrement. So that we see plainly
in spite of veterinary colleges, which I hesitate not to say have done more harm at pre-
sent than good, how wretchedly these poor animals are treated, and how from one

Though somewhat ambiguously, Professor Girard espouses the doc-
trines of La Fosse, see p. 66, and seems to think this narrow Paris shoe
the point of perfection,�the length of it is directed to be between
that of Lafosse and Bourgelat, which is about the length these mise-
rable shoes are actually made : his words are, p. 68, " Beaucoup plus
long que celui de Lafosse et plus court que celui de Bourgelat, il est
legerement couvert," &c. So that the Pancras professor, and the
Alfort professor, seem very much to have fallen into the same pit,
which Lafosse, who detested these colleges himself from the base
conduct of their professors towards him, most unintentionally dug
for them. When I was on the Continent twenty years ago, their
horses were shod with a thick and rather clumsy shoe, extending full
to the inflexions, and is the shoe I have described and figured in my
works as the French shoe, and certainly as good as any not having
motion. These horses were then going much better, and those shoes
often had the advantage of cover and of calkins, which seem to be
denied them for the fore feet by this writer.�If this exposure should
procure them any relief, my purpose will be answered in this rather

abuse these men are led into the commission of a greater. And yet under all dis-
advantages, these poor abused and wretched creatures are expected to perform their
ull labour, which in this country (France) is often revoltingly cruel from its dispropor-
tion to the weight and strength of the animal, more so, I have thought, than in England,
where also is wanted much reform in this respect. For extreme heavy loads are worse if

ftTdut ^than ^SCVere ^beating ^and ^scourSⁱⁿg> which all admit to be wrong, and ought to feel
a u y o interfere about, when they see such enormities practised, and repress them ;
^ ungenerous infliction is made also upon one of the most willing and unoffending
o animals. Surely we are not justified in taking these animals from their natural
haunts to serve us, and then in return to ill-treat them, nay, to inflict upon them pu-
nishments of the most cruel description. And it appears an anomaly that is unaccount-
able, that if a man should tie a horse to a post, and give him a hundred lashes every
^ay as severe as he could contrive to make them, every one who saw it would no doubt
e revolted at it; but let him only first put him into some clumsy lumbering machine
n'b H°^Ur ^Wheels ^t0 ^i<:' ^and ^he might then proceed to give him double the number, and
y would regard it, though the unconscionable burthen was added to the infliction.

long digression. For an account of the advantages of cover, (or
wide bearing surface rather,) he may consult my work on the New
Tablet Shoe, which he seems not much acquainted with, (2 Ed. 1827,)
and he will there find proof enough of their utility : but why not
try them instead of pretending " he does not know their effects."

As the above knots or points of the inflexural columns are of great
consideration in shoeing, we propose for distinction, and speaking of
them at once and without circumlocution, to call them, The Nodes
of Inflexion, or inflexural nodes, by which they are brought under
notice without any tedious explanation of what part we mean, as
would be the case if we called them heels.

We now are led to survey with more close attention the natural
foot, given in plate I, and we shall readily see that the outside
quarter referred to by the letter c, is more bulging, or describing a
wider circuit exteriorly than the inner quarter is observed to do,
which is, however, more conspicuous in the lower parts of the hoof
than the upper, and destroys in a small degree the cylindrical figure
which as a general law it obeys, so difficult is it to confine nature by
rule, who sports without controul for her own advantage.

At first I was led to apprehend that the cylinder of the hoof was
in a slight degree twisted on its axis to produce this aberration of
figure, but thought afterwards it was better expressed by saying
that the bone and contents of the hoof were pressed away, as it
were, from the outside, occasioning a greater fulness to the inside
quarter of the foot; and there appears in many feet, though we
rarely get them till they have undergone more or less change from
shoeing, which reduces the sides to the same figure, a slight differ-
ence in the two sides of the coffin bone, which would not fail to com-
municate its impressions to the whole foot. But in order to consider
all the beauty and purposes of this singular construction, we must
dismiss from our views the miserable, coerced, shod foot entirely, and
consider the animal in a pure state of nature using his foot without

any defence, and we shall then see what difficulties he would be ex-
posed to, which these provisions would diminish or remove.

The enlargement of the outer quarter of the hoof appears to be
attended with many advantages; it first serves to give more extent to
the general bearing of the foot on the ground, and by this increase of
bearing to render it more secure and firm; and secondly, the weight
distributed over more points of bearing will be less felt, and is made
easier to the animal without incurring the risk of cutting the opposite
eg, as would have been the case if such enlargement had taken place
on the opposite side, or if both sides of the foot had been made
equally spreading. The horn of this outer quarter is also some-
thing stouter than that of the inner, which, together with its greater
extent, enables the workman usually to place a nail more in this
quarter in fixing on the shoe than in the opposite one. And in the
wear of this quarter, (in the natural use of the foot for example,)
it being the wearing side, should it be severe or carried to excess,�
and horses in a state of nature, and for the first thousand years after
they were called into the service of mankind, were used entirely
without shoes, as we have distinctly proved,*�so it will be obvious
that the attrition would not so soon reach the bone or quick as it
would have done if the bone had been brought to the edge of the
hoof on this side, nor would any scraping abrasion or friction, or any
rude impression when the hoof grew thin, be so injurious or so much

of surfe f ^WlU ^be ^alS° ^equalty ^obvious ^that the augmented line
ur ac i of the hoof for wear will by this enlargement cause the
detrition to proceed much more slowly.

I he internal quarter, or side of the hoof, we see is move Jine, as it
s caned, that is, slighter and less bulging than the outer, the ad-
vantages of which are obvious in respect to cutting the other leg;
and this side also is a little thinner in its horn, and extends farther

pri^ratlheT w Z ^flw₁^hw*^kd«" ^of ^shoei*S ^of ^th* ancients, which will be re-
¹ ^ie ^en<i ot this volume.

backwards, and is sharper; it is also more upright, and is fuller or
deeper downwards than the opposite quarter; so that if we went on
paring away equal slices of horn from each side of the sole to an
horizontal level of the eye, we should sooner arrive at the blood on
this inside than on the other.

More than one useful purpose appears to attend this formation of
the foot. The greater elevation of this inside quarter appears to
give a slight degree of mechanical advantage to this side by throwing
off the weight to the opposite more extensive and stronger side of
the hoof, and confers perhaps a degree of ease in the standing as
well as going of the animal, which is farther contributed to by its
being more yielding and elastic; and it is also, we may remark, by
this provision relieved from the oppression which its proximity to the
line of gravity of the trunk falling between the legs would occasion
it. It may also, when the animal is in action, be usefully felt from
this quarter exposing a broader, more elastic surface for the bone to
act against in the sustaining as well as in the first efforts of project-
ing the body, as in rising for a leap, &c. We see in the plate how
much sharper and more prominent the intortional node is on this
inside; which must protect the sole, and by its sinking into the soil,
tend to fix the foot more solidly, and will render the impression
also less felt. This inside quarter requires the greatest care and at-
tention of the shoeing-smith, who ought to be made to learn its
structure and habitudes well before he is permitted to undertake
the covering of it with his iron. And in examining their qualifica-
tions, this should be made a point of particular inquiry and solicitude:
for their ignorance of this it is which causes them to lay their iron
upon and bruise this tender point. And the provisions of nature to
obviate the bruising of these tender parts are worthy attention. The
coffin bone on this account is at its very extremity a little relieved or
elevated by a shaving of its thickness being removed from its under
side; and by this means any violent pressure upon this point is avoided
by its receding from the general level of the underside of the bone.

These processes or extremities of the coffin bone scarcely exist in
the young horse, but extend backwards with the growth of the hoof
and the full developement of these parts.

To prevent any direct pressure on these tenderer parts of the foot,
the smiths usually bevil or slope the upper surface of the shoe down-
wards and inwards, and which has been much inveighed against by
various writers on these subjects, and considered as the principal
cause of contracted feet, though those who thus complained, and
reasoned without the practice, did not know that horses if shod dif-
ferently would not go so well; for seated shoes level in this part do
not, as practice and experience confirm, so well suit the foot as those
made with a slight bevil or inclination in every part of their upper
surface, which also prevents the horn from cracking iip and splitting
better than a flat, seated shoe ; and as to the contraction of the heels,
we shall see presently that it arises from quite other causes. That un-
less carried to a great excess indeed, this bevilling does not appear to
make so much difference as might be imagined, and this on account
of the firmness with which the foot is held upon the surface of the
shoe by the nails, which fix it almost immoveably as to its going either
m or out; and this fixedness is farther aided by the inequalities of
the iron to which the horn adapts itself; for it must be obvious that
the inflexural parts of the hoof can have no great extent of motion
but in concert with the quarters, and which are, by the nails passing
through them, most immoveably fixed.

Now the pmce of the inside quarter is seen to be vastly more pro-
jecting than the pince of the outside quarter; which is not only so
naturally, but is rendered more conspicuously so from the other side
being worn away by the natural wear and action of the horse. This
prominent part has received a name with the French, who call it La
mammelle, or The teat, but with us it is without name.

We may next remark of the two inferior nodes of the inflexural
columns, that on the outside is more evasee, to use a French expres-
sion, or extensively thrown out, and tortuous, while that of the inside

44 .

is deeper, or fuller, and rather thinner, and consequently more elastic
in its horn, and rises higher in protecting the point of the sole, and
is not so much rubbed away in the natural use of the foot.

Of the wear of the hoof. We may perhaps introduce at this place
our remarks on the wear or detrition of the hoof in the natural use
of the foot, but which is wholly done away by the defence of the shoe,
and which must also operate its peculiar effects upon the foot in
diminishing the natural elasticity and liberty of its parts, which such
defrication or removal would occasion them to have. That part of the
hoof which is rubbed away on the foot meeting the ground and on
leaving it, we call the line of wear ; it extends in this foot, as we may
see in this elegant plate, from the inside pince to the letter c, very far
along the outside quarter, leaving the inside quarter almost full, entire,
and free from wear, and is not in front of the foot, or across the ex-
tremity of the toe or pince, as might be naturally expected.

We have thought that the sole along this line of wear is thicker
harder and more intimately united to the wall than elsewhere, espe-
cially in the natural foot, often communicating a smoothness, hard-
ness, and polish to these parts, that the natural soil can make but
little impression upon, and which in grass fields, and especially in
snows and ice, acquires an almost flinty hardness of surface, and
many, very many horses, belonging ta gentlemen not using them
more than for their own healthful exercise, might go perfectly well
entirely without shoes, and so escape all the frightful catalogue of
evils that at present belong to this art.*

* On smooth flat stones, like the flag stones of the streets of London, a horse would
probably travel some hundred miles before his hoofs (which would be hardened and
polished by them) would be worn through; and of this description were the Roman
causeways, on which the rattling made by the hoofs very naturally suggested their
favourite epithet for the horse of, Sonipes.�On an English gravel road I have found,
by experiment, with a natural foot at five years old, that thirty, or five and thirty miles,
is as much as they will do, though by taking all advantages of grass which grew by
the road side, of deep sand in places, and by great care, I once rode from London,
to Calne in Wiltshire in less than three days, on my way to Bath, without shoes.

This oblique direction in the wear answers a double purpose of the
most useful kind; for a bare mention of the facts would have hardly
any interest if we did not venture to explain the causes of them also.

In the first place, the attrition and wearing away of the hoof does
not proceed so rapidly as it would have done had it gone on in a
straight line across the front of the toe from the foot being narrower
there, and ceconomy in this respect is of no small value to the animal
in a state of nature, or used without shoes, as was formerly the case
everywhere, and is still the case in some countries, the wear is thus
turned towards the strongest and hardest part of the hoof; and the
remarkable bulge, noticeable with this side or quarter of the hoof,
extends the line of wearing surface in a still greater degree; which,
with the projection of the mammelle, will also augment this line, and
further aid in preventing a too rapid detrition of the hoof.

And we may farther remark, that this mode of wear of the hoof is
not directed to the outside of the foot by any mechanism in the foot
itself, but by the bones of the knee having their surfaces for motion
directed outwards, so that when the foot is off the ground, or put in
motion, it is obliged to follow this direction: cutting, or interfering
with the opposite leg, is at the same time also materially prevented by
this beautiful arrangement.

Of the natural bearings of the foot on the ground. It is a cir-
cumstance not devoid of interest, in respect to the foot and shoeing,-
and hitherto unnoticed, that the surface of bearing of the natural
hoof is not, as might be expected, round the whole line of the inferior
circumference of the wall; but that the horn of the inside intortional
column is, as we have frequently before remarked, on a lower level
than the outer inflexion, thereby taking a first impression, and inclin-
ing the foot to the opposite side. Next to this, the bearing extends
along the quarter to the mammelle, and thirdly, the outer intortional
column, take their bearings, thus sustaining the weight, as it were,
upon three distant points, acquiring thereby the greatest firmness,

with an extraordinary share of liberty, more so than it could have re-
ceived, had it borne equally all round the circumference of the h6of.

We may also remark, that this inside quarter being brought nearer
to the centre of gravity of this extremity of the body, which would
probably fall in a perpendicular line between the two fore legs,
would perhaps, if not thus elevated, have an undue share of the
weight, and also a less power of resisting it, which, by the elevation
of this inside of the hoof, is directed more to the opposite side, or is
brought by this means to an equipoise of bearing with the other side,
and the pressure also by this obliquity is thrown outwards towards
the wider and stronger parts of the foot; and this provision also beau-
tifully tends to separate the two feet; for if the same inclination had
been inwards, the approach of the feet to each other would have been
the obvious consequence, and would have narrowed the base with
certain inconvenience. The inner and posterior more elastic parts of
the foot are also more at liberty for the exertion of their elastic pro-
perties by the diagonal point of these parts in the wearing line of the
foot being wholly removed from the ground, and thus will contribute
still farther to the freedom and liberty of every part of the hoof.

However perfect the shoeing art may at length become, we can
hardly expect that it will reach half the perfection of these arrange-
ments in the natural bearings of the foot, and at present they are
wholly sacrificed.

Of the external surface of the Hoof, Having traced its general
form, and the manner of its using, we now propose to consider its
two surfaces. The exterior surface of the wall of the hoof is every-
where covered with a shining polished coat of cuticle or epidermis,
which ought on no account to be removed, since it is its best defence
against the elements without, such as the drying effects of the air,
and the rotting and impoverishing effects of soil and dirt. But which
coat the more ignorant class of smiths generally remove with mis-
chievous activity with their rasps, under the mistaken notion of

cleaning the hoofs, which need only to be washed with water to be
perfectly so; and their taste, I am sorry to say, is no better than to
admire this unnatural, denuded offspring of their ill-bestowed labour.
And regard it not, though daily seeing its injurious effects, loving
rather to have their own way in so obvious an error than to allow
themselves in any manner to be instructed.

1 he external coat removed, the hoof afterwards, especially in dry
weather, often cracks, and these cracks extending, at length reach
the quick, and dirt and sand getting in, excessive lameness is the con-
sequence, and they are then said to have sand cracks, as though the
sand, which only casually occupies the crack, occasioned it. The
hoof also drying generally after this proceeding, becomes excessively
rotten and brittle, and the nails then easily split it up with terrible
consequences, often making a closer nailing necessary than is prudent,
and the flesh becoming compressed, pain and lameness ensue, and
render the horse almost useless, and often lead to his being pre-
maturely destroyed. The whole hoof also, after such a proceeding,
is subject to become dry, hard, contracted, and painful to the animal,
all these should induce us to forbid it with the greatest solicitude.

Of the internal surface. The internal surface of the hoof, instead
of being smooth like the external, is furnished with a magnificent
apparatus of perpendicular leaves, or processes of horn, for the more
secure attachment of the foot to the hoof.

1 hese plates when recently exposed are soft and elastic, but soon
dry m the air, and then form a substance very analogous to, if not
truly, horn: see pi. 2, fig. % These processes, we may observe, in
a surprising manner serve to multiply and increase the internal surface
ot the hoof, and they receive between them other plates of a similar
figure which arise from the bones of the foot, and by their inter-
susception and locking with each other, afford a suture or bond of
union of the strongest kind, and being elastic, they permit also the
divers movements which the bones of the foot demand in the hoof,
without the risk of laceration or disunion.

As to the number of these processes or leaves, by counting them
on one half of the hoof, I found them about two hundred and fifty;
consequently the number of the whole hoof is about five hundred.
If we examine them more attentively, their loose or floating edges
appear to be thinner than their base, or edges of insertion, and they
are often seen torn and ragged by the separation. I also thought
that whilst those of the hoof partook more of the nature of horn,
those of the foot seemed more of the nature of cartilage; and as
these latter are said to be sometimes ossified, it would seem to prove
that they are so, since cartilage is often, but horn never, converted
into bone.

If we remove them from the hoof, and examine them with the mi-
croscope, we discover two plans of fibres, the one in parallel lines to
the axis of the hoof, and the other obliquely intersecting these; and if
we draw them with the fingers in a perpendicular direction, they appear
not to yield much, if any, but drawn transversely, or in an oblique
direction downwards and backwards in the direction of the posterior
parts of the foot, they extend and are elastic, favouring the natural
movements of the internal foot in this direction.

I have stated already that the weight of the animal was projected
more forcibly on the front of the hoof, and we see that the longest
and most powerful consequently, of these processes, are there situ-
ated ; and we may farther observe, that they are placed obliquely,
ascending over the bone of the foot, which is held, as it were, sus-
pended by them as to an elastic frame, and from which circumstance
it is evident that the lower parts of the hoof should not be too
much thinned and weakened, as they sometimes are by the sole and
quarters being thinned desperately, by which is endangered the sepa-
ration or straining of these tenderer parts, inducing often deformity
of the hoof, and sometimes founder, and they appear quite ignorant
of the consequences of such a proceeding.

By this beautiful mechanism it is, together with the distribution of
the different parts of the hoof, that this animal obtains that lightness

of carriage and gracefulness, and springiness of action, for which he
is so deservedly admired, and which has no existence in the weightier
quadrupeds that walk on pads.

One should be desirous to know the real quantity of increase of
surface which such an extraordinary apparatus would afford; and my
late excellent friend, Thomas Evans, LL.D., mathematical teacher of
Christ's Hospital, worked this problem for me with, I believe, extra-
ordinary scientific precision and accuracy; and without going into all
the particulars, for it requires circumspection, it appeared to afford
an increase of actual surface more than the simple internal superficies
or area of the hoof would give of about twelve times, or about 212
square inches, in a horse whose height was about fifteen hands, or
one square foot sixty-eight square inches, or nearly one square foot
and a half; and this calculation was made upon a horse that had
never been shod, in which these processes were found to be trans-
versely deeper and more free from colour.

And it is evident that these plates or processes of horn, independ-
ently of their augmentation of the surface, will produce also a still
farther strength of union by the adhesion they have to one another,
as is the case with all well-fitted and well-applied surfaces, a sort of
attractive force that holds them together, and renders any motion
upon each other, or separation, very difficult.�The processes proceed-
ing from the hoof are generally stiff enough to maintain their figure,
ut those of the foot are more limber and flaccid after recent sepa-
ration, and fall together.

e union of these processes must produce a suture of most re-
markable strength, _and from their number and perpendicular depth,
any rupture or dislocation by external violence must be truly diffi-
cult ; yet we see they _are reduced and diminished in breadth by the
shoeing, and suffer along with the other elastic parts of the foot; and
that they are also subject to become disturbed and disorganized by
inflammatory actions, induced not unfrequently by washing the feet
m cold water when the horse has been heated by exercise, and suf-

fering them to chill; a violent inflammation then takes place in these
highly-vascular parts, and a partial or complete separation follows:
very hot summers, with the rigours of the shoeing process added, will
together create fever in these parts that slowly dissolves their union;
and after weakness, induced by any of the above causes, violent
racing will alone be sufficient to disunite them and produce founder;
as was the case with the Eclipse horse, whose feet are how before
me, and also of the famous horse Worthy, and a numerous host of
others, that their disturbance and separation is in reality not un-
frequent.

These plates, or lamellae, we may also observe, are continued upon
the surface of the inflexions or bars, see plate 3, fig. 1, serving to
confirm the view we have taken of the relationship and continued
nature of these parts to the wall. And it is not improbable that
when the young horse is in strong action, and darting forwards with
the velocity almost of a bird's flight, that these posterior parts of the
wall of the hoof would play to the impression of his speed as freely
as the" young branches of an osier bent by the wind, and that by
their sudden return again to their first position they would materially
assist in his rapid career.

These lamellae, or processes of horn, have been strangely called by
some, laminae, as though they were horizontally disposed plates of
metal lying one over another in close contact, which can but ill apply
to perpendicular sutures like these. We have therefore, to avoid
ambiguity, preferred simply to call them the Keraphylla, or horn-
leaves, and The Keraphyllous structure* which the French have
immediately adopted, and of distinguishing again those of the foot
by the term Podophylla, or the Podophyllous structure,^ which ap-
pellations we shall in future use, as their convenience and superior
correctness will we believe be obvious, as well in avoiding any peri-

* From Kfpas, cornu, horn, and <j>v\\oi>, folium, a leaf,
-j- From vovs, toSos, pes, a foot, and ^uaaov, a leaf.

phrase, as by the other numerous advantages of a proper distinctive
name. We may here just remark that these last, the Podophylla,
are not actually placed upon the coffin bone itself, but upon a dense
reticular web covering its surface, (the reticulum processigerum,)
which we must leave for description with the attaching parts.

In farther pursuing our view of the interior surface of the hoof,
we are led to notice the hollow or depressed semi-circle at the top of
the hoof: see plate 2, fig. 3. This cavity serves to receive an indu-
rated and enlarged process of the skin, which entering it, is securely
lodged there, and becomes the secreting organ of the wall of the
hoof. The surface of this cavity is seen everywhere besprinkled with
innumerable small pores, often arranged in transverse lines, but more
frequently without any distinct order; and we may observe that
these pores, though small, are immensely large for vessels not carry-
ing red blood, but colourless lymph; however, in rasping the hoof
away deeply near the top, we often see red blood to flow before we
arrive at the quick, which serves to show that some of them will
admit the red blood for some little distance down them. Perspirable
fluid is elaborated in these vessels, which is shown by putting a cold
metal plate under the hoof, which collects it abundantly. As this
epressed circle passes backwards in the hoof, it becomes wider and
more shallow, especially at the inflexions, which probably adapts it to
more extensive and varied movements of these parts where it
abruptly terminates.

kg . ^ened, or more cartilaginous skin, which fills this part, has

s y mistaken by some for a ligament, though neither in
structure nor in r>ffi i � , , , ,'. i

^ "nice has it the least approach to this description of

^er to speak of it without a circumlocution, I have

rj 7 ^name °^f ^Cutidura> ^and ^the cavity containing it, the

ado 17 °^r ^CUtig�ral ^cavity> ^and ^wnich ^the ^Frencn ^have also

°P ed; and in every animal having hoofs, claws, or even nails,

a simi-

See Coleman on the Foot of the Horse, p. 225, pi. 3, g, g, g.

lar part will be found. It is probably the skin hardened and divested
in some measure of its sensibility, in order that the impressions upon it,
which must be strong, should not be too much felt: for it is a perfect
continuation of the skin, and without any interruption whatever: it
is true the groove, into which the frog-band enters, is situated just
above it, and which has occasioned no doubt these adroit anatomists
to carve, mal apropos, a division there.

The pores seen in the cutigeral concavity, I need hardly observe,
are the openings or orifices of an infinity of capillary tubes, of which
the hoof is composed, and serve to convey the vessels for succulence
and the perspiration of the hoof, and for maintaining its toughness,
and where these vessels terminate, and the access of nutritive fluid
ceases, probably, there the horn loses its coherence and life, and falls
away; which may perhaps explain the natural course and also throw
light upon the singular phenomenon we so often see of morbidly
lengthened hoofs to such a remarkable degree, as to lose entirely
their proper figure, and to turn up in front, in horses as well as asses;
in W'hich case perhaps it is that these vessels, from some morbid
cause, are lengthened out in an extraordinary degree, which permits
the hoof also to follow the same course. We observe this process
generally in animals that have been sometime shod, and then are
left without shoes; and we may remark, that in shoeing, the iron, by
being driven with great force directly against the openings of these
perpendicular tubes, must effectually close them, and arrest all trans-
piration through them: whether such obstruction may in some feet
influence or contribute in any manner to this morbid affection I know
not, and leave, having mentioned it, to be ascertained by future
research: sometimes though rarely however in natural feet, with the
ass more particularly, this morbid growth has taken place, we believe,
without their having ever been shod.

And these filiform vessels which enter the wall of the hoof are of
a nature longer than those of the sole, hence its greater length,
whilst those of the sole being shorter and quickly perishing determine

its relative thickness to be so much less, at least, such appears to us
at present the most probable solution of this phenomenon. The
wall of the hoof will also admit, though but imperfectly, a division
into two longitudinal tables, the exterior one more hard and variously
coloured, and the interior one white or colourless, and is much softer,
and as it passes more interiorly is disposed into parallel lines, which
at length become the detached foliations of the keraphylla, which are
however secreted along with it in its formation at the coronet, and this
along with the rest of the wall of the hoof is apparently given off
hy the cuticle, or perhaps rather by the same cutaneous vessels as
secrete this universal covering of the body.

This cutigeral concavity in cases of founder, where the internal or
sensitive foot sinks down within the hoof, is in part or wholly obli-
terated, and we see in its place an extended flat surface of consi-
derable width, and the hoof in this case becomes ribbed, wrinkled,
or deformed, or grows to a thickened shapeless mass of horn, and
the coffin bone also sinking and losing its place, and its sharp edges
being absorbed, it becomes rounded, and at length reposes in an
indented hollow formed in the middle of the sole.

Of the formation of the wall. This we have already stated is done
by the cutidura, and is a production of the cuticle itself, or more
certainly of the same vessels which form this part; nevertheless, all
parts of the surface of the internal foot can produce horn, as we
plainly see when horn has been removed by any circumstance from the
sides of the foot, horn will form there, and so wonderful are the re-
sources of nature, that if the cutidura itself has been removed, as in
quittor cases, the skin then assuming its office, will form horn, though
the horn so formed does not appear so well organized as when formed
by its proper natural cornifacient agent, and on the removal of a
sand crack, even the cutidura shall throw out a shapeless lump of
horn, which is by the succession or after growth from the coronet at
last reduced to its proper thickness and original dimensions of the
wall.

To prevent the very disastrous consequences which would attend
a separation or detachment of the cutidura from its adherence to this
cavity of the hoof is one of the very important offices of the frog-band,
which, passing over it, secures this tender line of connection, that
rough bodies grazing along the surface of the hoof should be carried
by this means safely over it to the skin above.

Of the composition of the hoof. The wall of the hoof in its struc-
ture will be found, we believe, to be very simple, for it appears to
consist or is made up entirely of threads or hollow tubes of extreme
fineness consolidated and glued together in parallel lines by inter-
posing horn, that if we wanted a true notion of this construction,
we may fancy to ourselves, a lock of hair, which are so many tubes
of horn, immersed in glue and then dried and it would give us a
mass very strictly analogous to the horn of the wall, and the sole
appears only to differ in being shorter in respect to these tubuli or
filaments of vessels passing into it, it is however of a much softer,
coarser, and looser texture as to its horn, and therefore, more elas-
tic, which its office seems to demand; and the immediate organ or
agent of its secretion appears to be a process or elongation from the
skin brought down thus far for the purpose; this, we think, we have
decidedly observed in carefully dissecting this part.

And we may further remark in terminating this description of the
wall, that if by any accident the podophyllous and keraphyllous
structure are both destroyed, this fine organization is not again re-
newed, but the reparation is made by a plain, smooth, flat, surface
of horn not duly organized.

It_rappears also important to observe in respect to this part, the
wall, that it can have characters wholly at variance as is the case in
respect to the high and lofty or upright hoof, and the hoof that is
extremely flat, and so different are they that they seem to require a
different management in the shoeing and treatment, also in rearing.
Since all the parts of the very flat hoof are thinner, weaker, and
requiring a lighter but more extensive bearing and defence than does

the upright foot, and the shoeing is not only advantageous, but
almost necessary to such a foot, but to the very upright it would be
often superfluous, and is in its effects more rapidly injurious, and
also too much wet in rearing the flat hoof should be avoided, which
cannot do to the other so much harm.

It also appears to me, that it would be attended with many advan-
tages if we should give to this important member of the hoof, the
wall, a distinctive name that would bear the inflections of language,
as we could then at any time detach it, and separately consider it in
its relations to the other parts; and for this purpose we have appro-
priated to it the term Onuchus, which can be employed adjectively,
which the term wall could not: its use in facilitating our remarks
may be seen in the following examples. The onuclial part in the
foot of every animal determines the form of the rest of the hoof, and
gives the law to the other parts. Existing singly, it constitutes a
nail. With a sole only it forms a claw, and when pointed and in-
curvated, a bird's claw, or talon. And with a sole and frog, it makes
a complete and most perfected hoof. Onuchal disease will mostly
lead to a distortion of the other parts of the hoof. Bi-onuchal in-
flection, or double inflexion of the onuchus, is peculiar to the horse
tribes, &c.

Having now shown the general form of the wall of the hoof, and
noticed in succession all its parts in a way not before understood, we
proceed to its next member, the frog, which we shall see has been
as little understood as to its real structure, and, miserably for the
animal, still worse appreciated in respect to its functions and office.

Of the Frog.

As this part of the foot has led to more mistakes in the shoeing
than any other part of it, so we shall bestow upon it the more care
and attention to exhibit correctly its structure and economy, in
order that it may not suffer any more punishment by the cruel bat-
terings and squeezings that have been so unmercifully proposed for

it by the unaccountable misapprehensions of these colleges, where
nonsense is taught by authority and widely disseminated, and where
men have hitherto really been placed officially to teach an art which
they had themselves yet to learn, and where, instead of delivering
their opinions with a suspicious diffidence and wariness, from know-
ing their real situation, they have uttered their absurd dogmas with
all the confidence of well-ascertained truths, and afterwards, though
plainly confuted, have persisted through pride in maintaining them.
And it is lamentable to think of the hundreds of young men that
have been thus misled by these teachers, and of the thousands of
horses which have been punished, bumpt and thumpt upon their
frogs through their impenetrable obstinacy and folly. And what is
worse, when the truth in clearest evidence lay before them, instead
of embracing it joyfully, they have tried in every way to stifle her
by wilful misrepresentations and the abuse of those who had espoused
her cause; and next to these miserable courses they have added a
barbarity, surpassing in refined cruelty even the unsoleing or any
other cruelty ever proposed by the old farriers�that of nerving the
horses legs when they were not relieved by their injudicious measures;
and so destroyed the very fundamental properties of the foot, instead
of pursuing the natural and most obvious means of prevention and
relief from the evil which new and undeniable discoveries had some-
time since presented to the world, and which had been confirmed by
very sufficient testimonies of men no way interested in the affair,
otherwise than by a desire of serving the cause of truth and hu-
manity; and from seeing and deeply feeling the very great injury
done to the animals as well as to the public and ourselves, we cannot
on such an occasion but express warmly our natural and, we believe,
just indignation at such conduct.

In now presuming to unfold this curious part, the frog of the
horses foot, we may observe, that we enter upon it with the more
pleasure and confidence from having in former years been permitted
to disclose several of its parts not before known or understood, and

we now hope to add to it a more full account of its real functions
and construction, nor should we be disposed thus particularly to lay
claim to these things if not driven to it by experiencing that we have
nothing to expect from the liberality, or candour, or truth of these
colleges, who have endeavoured to bury and conceal them, but who,
had they understood their true interests, would have been the first,
as in duty they were bound to be, being paid for it, to extend their
aid to us in promulgating them and in forwarding their application to
the services of the animals and of mankind, instead of, by bad pre-
parations of them, or none at all, concealing them and misrepresenting
them, and by giving to their class mean descriptions of them, making
them to appear as of little or no importance, almost as though the
Almighty had been indeed insufficient in his works.

As we have already seen that an interruption or break to the
continuity of the horny circle becomes necessary for the purposes
before stated�of destroying resistance in this part of the foot, so
this singular organ is provided to fill up the triangular chasm left by
the ends of the wall being inflected towards the centre of the foot
instead of meeting at the heels, affording thereby full efficiency to
this beautiful design : see pi. 2, fig. 2, and pi. 3, fig. 1.

Now the frog is every where attached to the upper edges of these
introverted limbs or bars, which in passing downwards, are also seen
to be reflected outwards; and by this direction disposed away from
the sides of the frog, in order clearly that it should not suffer com-
pression from them: and we may remark, that the very reverse of
such an arrangement would certainly have been the case if the frog
had really been destined to the office of acting against these inflections
to force them open, as the frog-squeezing advocates have imagined.
We may again observe that this part, the frog, narrows also down-
wards as it proceeds from its attachments or insertion, and conse-
quently still renders wider the space between, and makes their contact
next to impossible in any forcible way, the reverse of all which would
have been the case had any such office as that of forcing the in-

flections open been intended. And the sharp part of this supposed
wedge is turned to the ground, and not to the object it is supposed to
act against. And further, if we look at the base of the frog, which
part has its great width, matter and power, we there see a hollow
cavity, being the base of the frog-stay. Now would any mechanic of
common sense make a hollow space in the very point of the chief
resistance of his wedge ?

In my early studies at this college, as it is called, I was also led into
frog-squeezing notions, derived I know not how, but I believe from
St. Bel, and these ideas held me for some years; becoming engaged
in actual practice, the best of all teachers, where there is reflection
and openness to conviction, and a distrust of reasoning ; I first was
led, from seeing bad effects from it, to doubt the truth of this fasci-
nating delusion, which ended soon after in a conviction of its fallacy.

I was next led to consider what part in the structure of other ani-
mals this frog could be allied to, and referred it to a correspondence
with the central pads in the feet of the digitated animals ; but after-
wards saw also that this in some respects was not correct, since the
pad in the dog and cat's foot is designed for a primary impression on
the ground for the impulsion of the animal; but not so the frog of
the horse, for it clearly would not have done for an animal of such
weight, and destined to be of the first order of fleetness, to depend
on soft parts for his primary impulsion, as such softness would cer-
tainly have very much paralyzed, if not entirely destroyed, its effect.
It was necessary, therefore, he should have a more solid point, or
range of points rather, of bearing for this purpose, and which is fully
afforded him in the solidity and more extensive circuit of the hoof.

It may be remarked, however, that this part is really analogous in
some respects to the pads in other animals, for it consists of the same
materials, viz., horn, ligament, tendon, and resilient elastic stuffing:
these, however, are beautifully separated into classes in the horse,
forming a much more elaborate and noble design than in the pads,
where they appear almost, if I may be allowed the expression, heaped

together and inordinately mixed. The horn also of the frog in the
horse is pure and abundant, and not that cartilaginous horny skin
which is found with the pad. The frog also appears to be more pos-
teriorly placed in the foot of the horse than the pad is in the digitated
quadrupeds, that is, in relation to the whole foot. We now take an
external view of this interesting and somewhat anomalous organ and
of all its parts, their various uses and abuses, with a summing up of
the evidence upon the question of frog-pressure, and shall conclude
with giving the various names that this part has obtained among dif-
ferent nations.

In turning to the frontispiece, or plate I., the reader is presented
with an interesting view of the frog of the horse's foot, and it is the
first time, perhaps, that this part has ever been very truly represented;
it is, indeed, a view of the organ at five years old in its perfectly
natural state, unhacked, and unsliced, or in any way disfigured by the
workers in iron.

In its general mass, it appears of a lozenge or triangular form, and
its sides growing narrower, are seen sloping away to its summit, or
rather, indeed, its inferior surface. This inferior surface is flattened,
and in the middle a little depressed, beyond which a considerable
bulbous enlargement appears, and from which it suddenly narrows to
a sharpish point, and terminates.

The above rotundity, or swell of the frog, rising considerably more
to the light than the rest of the surface, is sufficiently conspicuous;
it is, however, almost the only foot in which I remember distinctly to
have seen it, for it is the only foot at five years old that I ever saw
that had not been in one way or other mutilated by the smiths, and
at an earlier period than this all the parts of the foot are not deve-
loped. On making a perpendicular section of the foot through this
enlargement, it is found nearly opposite, or under the shuttle bone.

two-fold purpose is combined in this structure,, as in most other
parts of this exquisite piece of mechanism. It appears as though
provided to defend the important tendon passing under the above

bone from injury : and it contributes by its pressure to give support
to this tendon, by pressing against it at the moment of its greatest
extension, which takes place while the foot is on the ground impelling
the weight of the body, and prevents it from being torn from its
attachment, or breaking at the sudden turn here given to it in passing
beneath the coffin-bone ; and it doubles the force of its attachment,
or more than doubles it, if the strain be more, for if the pressure of
the ground permit it, it will be proportionate. It also serves to
defend the joint formed by the two foot bones, and the most import-
ant soft parts of the foot.

By way of distinguishing this useful part from the rest of the frog,
we have familiarly called it the Cushion of the frog. In young feet
it is not very distinguishable.

The frog, a triangle of elastic horn, has the effect of, and may not be
inaptly compared to, an elastic key-stone received into an elastic arch,
communicating, in some cases, and admitting in all, the springing
movements of such kind of arch. Its base, from its width and quan-
tity of matter, possesses the full capacity of its motion along with
the inflections, but which is gradually lost in approaching the centre
of the foot where there is less occasion for movement.

If we observe the base of the frog in the engraving annexed, there
may be remarked about the middle of it a pretty considerable cavity
or excavation, the edges of which are truly represented with rising
lips or prominent margins of stouter horn : this hollow is termed the
Cleft of the frog ; (see frontispiece;) the sides sloping pretty sud-
denly, form a longitudinal line at the bottom of the cavity, thus ter-
minating it.

This cavity appears to serve the following useful purposes. It is
a safe-guard from rupture between the two halves or divisions into
which the foot is almost separated at this part; by closing when
pressure comes direct upon the underside of the frog, it prevents too
much condensation of the horn of this part, and consequent pressure,
and a too solid resistance upon the soft parts beneath; when the foot

bears partially on the ground, as by one side only, which will happen
occasionally where the surface is irregular, it can then extend along
with that side of the foot without rupturing, by the greater liberty it
thus affords to the part, and the strength of its margin secures it from
laceration. This Indent or Cavity may also in soils of a looser nature
hold the foot more firmly, by the irregularity it offers to the surface ;
as in loose ground, sands, clays, &c.

But what we could wish to have more particularly noticed respect-
ing this cell or cleft of the frog is, that it is prevented from rupturing
inwards towards the quick by a stout considerable cone of horn pass-
ing directly from it into the sensitive frog, and of which cone this
cleft will be found to be only the hollowed base : see pi. 3, fig. 2, a, b,
which is a perpendicular section presenting an excellent view of it.
It is also worthy of notice, that this solid cone of horn, though
passing within the sanguiferous and sensitive parts of the foot, .is
nearly or quite as hard and tough as is the horn in the exterior of
the frog exposed to the air, in order apparently to give it efficiency
in resisting rupture from external assault. And this cone, we may
observe, commences nearly opposite to the termination of the heels
of the coffin-bone, assisting the duplicatures or columns of the in-
flections, in strengthening these posterior parts in the absence of
bone : the posterior blunt end of the frog-stay is adhering to the
middle of the curtain of the frog.

The sides of this cone are somewhat compressed or flattened, and
its upper and front edge obtusely sharp. This part was not much
attended to before, and being without even a name, I gave it the
epithet frog-stay, which the French have also adopted, in calling it
arrette-fourchette, from its closing the frog, and holding more firmly
its halves together.

This singular provision, hitherto so little regarded, of the frog of
the horse, seems to serve the purpose of uniting more firmly the two
calves, of which the foot, at this part, really consists; there being a
tendency to a division in the hind part of the horse's foot as in the

cloven-footed animals. And this part, though but small, is indeed
truly important in the offices of the foot as well as its diseases, for
this cone of horn not only forms the main barrier to the separation
of the two halves of the frog when violence is offered; but what
is more worth our attention is, that it appears to be this part when
forced or destroyed that becomes the true source and cause of the
Running Frush, and which well understood will lead us to a better
knowledge of this disagreeable complaint. As we mean on some
future occasion to give a more enlarged account of this matter,* we
shall only state here very briefly the manner this appears to happen.
When this cone is defectively formed by nature, as by the want of
sufficient bulk, or by weakness of its contexture�when reduced or
wasted away from the same evils that reduce and waste the general
mass of the horn of the frog, as the pressure of the shoe�or be-
coming too brittle, hard, and dry, as from cutting and stable exposure,
it is in consequence liable to be broken by external violence�or is de-
cayed or weakened by much exposure to wet or filth;�in either of
these cases its rupture admits a passage and lodgment for externally
destructive agents, as wet, dirt, urine, &c, or even its own secretions
lodging in the part are sufficient for this effect: these destroying the
horn, at length reach the quick and sensitive parts, whose irritated
surfaces produce the discharge in question; and thus the thrush
appears to be formed : (see pi. 3, fig. 3, t,) where the frog-stay is in
part ruptured, and the frush in its progress. Another view of this
part, with the frog and band detached, is seen. (pi. 4, fig. 2, k.)

It may also have escaped the notice of some engaged in these
studies, that an extension of the skin passes beneath the frog, and is
the first part or surface that gives out the frushy discharge, till at
length in bad cases it gets destroyed, and the more internal parts
become affected. This curious fact of the skin may be noticed by

* On Running Frush and Ring-bone. (London, 1821,) With a successful mode of
curing it.

slitting open the frog and turning it back, when a process of it may
be distinctly traced growing thinner as it approaches the sole.

It has been generally imagined hitherto, that contracted heels were
the great cause of thrush ; but we may remark, that the last stage or
degree of contraction, may exist in feet without any thrush whatever :
it is therefore not a necessary consequence of the contracted heel,
but of the casual occurrence of certain circumstances which we have
described; for the converse of this is also true, viz., that without any
contraction at all there shall be thrushes, as in the young feet just
mentioned, and indeed in grown up feet, and one contracted foot
shall have it and not the other, though equally so, and of the self-
same horse.

We hope this discovery respecting the nature of thrushes may not
be unacceptable to those who are in any way interested about horses,
as it sets in a clearer light the genuine source of a very obscurely-
beheld and disagreeable complaint.

The Frog-stay, it is evident, will essentially co-operate with the
coronary Frog-band next to be described, in keeping the whole struc-
ture of these parts together, and especially under circumstances that
might tend to disunite them, as in the suction of strong clays, or in
swampy ground, &c.

This part is much stronger in proportion, we have thought, in
horses of the blood than in coarser bred horses.

Still pursuing our external view of this part as it is presented in
the engraving, we are now about to describe a most singular provision
of the hoof, which, though truly conspicuous, has strangely escaped
an intelligible notice from all preceding writers on this subject.

In regarding the base of the frog in this engraving, we see on each
side of it the columns of the inflections of the hoof very much fore-
shortened, and the frog is sending off laterally two stout processes of
horn to firmly surround and envelope the sharp posterior edges of
these inflections at their upper parts, and which form there two very
dense rounded elastic bulbs of horn, (see letters a and b,) in order to

keep together and restrain any violent separation of these parts of
the hoof, which would have been attended with disastrous conse-
quences : we have also another view of these bulbs in plate 3, fig. 1,
giving an horizontal section of them. Now we shall next observe,
that by means of these bulbs, a connection is formed in a most unex-
pected and singular manner of the frog with the front of the hoof;
for these wings, or lateral processes, continue their course round the
whole line of the commencement of the hoof, forming a convex band
which is firmly adhering to the hoof, and sending off its upper edge
or margin above the limits of the hoof to be attached or deeply
inserted into a fossa of the skin, and serving in its place a variety of
very important offices : see pi. 4, fig. 1, its natural appearance, and at
fig. 2, its appearance when detached.

One of its offices, we have formerly stated, that of securing the
joint which is made between the skin and hoof from the imminent
danger of a disunion by any rude body grazing along the surface of
the hoof, and passing into it, which would by this shield be diverted
from entering the joint, and be carried over it in safety to the skin
above. It appears also to serve the useful office of keeping the thin
tender upper fine edge of the hoof from growing dry and hard, and
irritating the skin it is connected with; this part being ever, when
in its natural state, and not changed by stable heats, or the fever ari-
sing from shoeing, of the most agreeable toughness, pliancy, and
softness. I have however seen the smiths in their rage for rasping,
nearly rasp away the whole of this band.

It has also the power of supporting the foot from too much sinking
downwards within the hoof; and we may be able, by attending to this
circumstance, to explain the extraordinary flatness of the hoof that
has been long foundered, and arising from the pressure of this band
upon its upper parts. And it will be found, therefore, particularly useful
if we pay attention to it, in exposing and detecting the first tendency
to this miserable disorder. It appears also to be rather broader, we
have observed in the hind, than in the fore feet.

It absorbs moisture like a sponge, and when wetted by the grooms,
I have seen it swell by the application of the water, and become sen-
sibly more prominent, and assume a darker colour in consequence,
whilst all the other parts of the hoof have suddenly dried, which
from their feverish state they are in a general way but too apt to do.

It is probable this band is ever supplied with moisture from its
connection with the vessels of the skin, and at times also, no doubt,
from perspiration running down upon it. And one cannot fail to
imagine, in the hot regions of the torrid zone, as of Arabia or Lybia,
the native countries of the horse, and where the foot is immersed
in burning sands, the great relief that a band so soft and pliant must
afford to these tender parts.

A more important office still remains to be disclosed than any of
the above, which is, that it acts as a powerful elastic ligament in hold-
ing the exterior edge of the cutidura all round the hoof securely in
its place from the various assaults to which it is particularly exposed,
whilst the interior edge or margin of it, is securely held by the Kera-
phyllous and Podophyllous structure, and its middle by the arteries
entering the hoof.

Every one used at all to examining the hoof, or of dissecting it at
least, must have observed, when the foot is drawn out of it, a project-
ing eminence of soft horn with a channel inside it: this is the upper
edge of this band. And this appearance we had often noticed in our
dissections with a degree of surprise, and but little imagined it was a
separate part of the hoof, and without once suspecting its origin ; nor
should we probably have discovered it, but from accidentally making,
without the expectation of any such result, (for we cannot look for a
part of which we know not the existence,) an horizontal section with
a saw through the middle of the inflections; the loose edges of the
bulbs then presented, and conducted me to the band, and showed
their connexion; and the inflected nature of the hoof immediately
^aIso ^became apparent.

. ^SeemS ^to ^be ^intended ^t0 ^unite the sensible parts with the insen-
sible, that is, the solid hoof with the tender skin, which its pliancy

and extraordinary softness peculiarly fits it for. It also serves
strongly to bind these upper parts of the hoof together, and to assist
in holding the frog and its bulbs more firmly in their situation. It
receives great strength from being attached to the surface of the
hoof in nine tenths of its width, as paper glued to a board partakes
also of its strength; and the difficulty of rupturing it, or of drawing
it out from its lodgment in the skin, also manifests its power, and
its very various offices sufficiently bespeak its utility and advantages.

A book, a very big book indeed, on the foot and shoeing, has been
published some time back in Paris, by one Jauze, of the Alfort school
I believe, who declares this band to be no new discovery at all, for that
it was well known to Bourgelat and to the French veterinarians, and
that it was nothing else but his bourrelet graisseux ; thus showing his
total ignorance of the part by mistaking it for the cutidura; which is
in reality no band at all. This, with other malevolent remarks of
Jauze, were very neatly answered by my friend, Professor Huzard,
jun., in a small work, entitled, " Quelques Observations" fyc. Paris,
1818 ; who afterwards signified to me that they were not really written
by Jauze himself, but by one of the pupils of Alfort, and that he only
w^Tas weak enough to father them. That my own countrymen should
not fall into the same error, I wrote, in the first edition of my work,
the following sort of manifesto or warning, which I should not have
repeated in this edition, but as it serves to show the animus I then
had towards Coleman and the college; a place I acknowledge I once
studied in with great delight, and wish I could still continue to
praise it.*

* In the works of Professor Coleman there is a Coronary Ligament described and
figured, Plate 3, p. 225, g, g, g, vol. IL on the horse's foot. This ligament, I at first
apprehended might be the Frog-band in question, but on examining the description of
it, it appears not at all to accord with the part here given. The Frog-band in no re-
spect partakes of the ligamentous texture, but is of nearly or quite the same matter as
the horn of the frog ; neither is it lodged in the coronary concavity of the hoof, the con-
cave pari of the hoof, where this ligament is said to be found, has ever appeared to us

Now I am, as it were, rather upon French ground, I may here just
observe also, that honest Professor Girard, after having done me the
honour of consigning my discovery of the elastic principle of the horse's
foot to his countryman Lafosse, supporting his arguments by false quo-
tations taken from a purposely corrupted English version, by one who
knew little or nothing of the French language, which any one, reading
the original work, will in a moment see and detect the injustice of
this piece of unprovoked and illiberal dealing on his part, and in-
sinuating my nameless obligations to some Frenchman, also nameless;
and after having thus handsomely prepared his way, he next quietly
purloins the above band into the second edition of his own work with
nearly every other observation of mine of any value, and without
making scarcely a single note of commendation or acknowledgment!
It is with pleasure, however, that I have to record the very reverse of
this conduct in a private French veterinary practitioner of Paris,
M. Crepin, one of the editors of the Journal pratique, who, in

to be filled up simply by an enlargement or process of the skin itself, that is, the cutis
vera, not separable in any way by dissection, or maceration, or any other means we
could devise. One should apprehend it was some inadvertence of the dissector, who
had by the knife formed the skin into this appearance. In suggesting, however, this
probability of an error, (if it be one,) we could desire to elicit the truth by further in-
quiry into these parts, for they have been really but little examined; and in doing this,
we could wish to testify our respect for the head of an establishment we ardently wish
to see flourish, and whose works alone we have thought deserving of notice; and ask
but the same charitable construction on our own errors from others. Indeed it is high
time the wretched style of declamation and abusive writing on these subjects should
give way to a better taste�that of real investigation and research, as in other objects
of a scientific nature, by which alone the art can receive any useful accessions, and the
horse be benefited.

The empty verbosity of style alluded to above began about tbe reign of Charles the
Second, or a little earlier, and has continued with few exceptions ever since. It was
unknown before this period, and was in reality the natural produce and legitimate off-
spring of jockeyism and the race-course. How little has been added to our knowledge
y such writings may be readily seen, and in what a disgusting light they begin already
to appear.

i 2

public and in private, has made an unreserved avowal and acknow-
ledgment of his estimation of these discoveries.

The importance of this principle, which the French so contend for
the discovery of, does not seem yet to be at all felt in England; smo-
thered up by college tricks, it seems indeed of so simple and abstract
a nature, as to be almost nothing; and it was long after the effects of
it were familiar to me before I could give it a definite name, or what
these effects I had witnessed should be referred to; it is the term,
elasticity, however, which by its exercise and use will explain, like
the principle of gravitation in the hands of the astronomer, nearly
every thing that before was dark and obscure in the arts of the foot.

This band is not very large at two or three years old, but acquires
its size with the growth of the frog, and along with it completes its
bulk and form.

I have seen in the foot of a cart-horse the horn of the frog-band
extending nearly half way down the hoof, which seemed of use in
protecting it from too much dryness; and it is remarkable how long
moisture will preserve it from falling off. And I have also observed
in two or three cases, where from a tread or a quittor, this band had
been detached from its connexion with the skin, and also from the
hoof, and was exposed to the pus and secretions of the sore, that it
swelled to the thickness of the little finger nearly, and strongly re-
sembled both when handled, and in appearance, a mass of chaoutchouc
extract, or Indian rubber, and keeping up a considerable irritation to
the ulcer beneath it, so that it became finally necessary to remove it,
or at least divide it. And I have seen also the discharge from a bad
frush occasion the frog-bulbs to extend and cover over the inflexural
columns quite down to the ground from the moisture thus afforded,
instead of being naked half way up as they usually are seen.

Having been the first to describe this part, so I have ventured also
to give to it a name, having called it the Frog-band, or Coronary

frog-band;* but as this appellation will not apply to other animals
which have no frogs,�for it is universally found represented in some
way or other in all animals whose extremities' are terminated by horn,
�to meet therefore such a general claim, I have bestowed on it
the term Periople, from wtpi, circum, and oir\v, armatura, or the hoof.
By which we can freely communicate all we wish respecting its pro-
perties or structure without a periphrase, as in the following exam-
ples. The thin edging or cuticle, as it is thought to be, covering the
water whale, or root of the human nail, is in fact a perioplic rudiment.
A perioplic covering for the conjunction of skin and horn seems to
pervade all nature ; but in the horse is seen the perfected fulness of
this member in all its functions and structure. Abrasion of the peri-
ople is attended with excessive irritation, a case of which we once
saw in a horse, nor could any unguent or emollient supply its place.

This band suffers when the other parts of the hoof are affected,
and then often makes a dry and withered appearance,�as by the
effects of shoeing and stable feed and air; but against black hoofs it
is often a most conspicuous object. It also appears to have the power,
if kept in too dry a state from heat and fever of the feet, to contract

* This part was invisible in the museum of the college when I visited it some years
ago, and afterwards only a most miserable specimen could be seen of it; and on con-
versing with more than one young man of the fully qualified and diplomatized of the
college, I could not find that they had any distinct ideas of the existence of such a
part: so very communicative is a privileged royal school for the promotion of know-
ledge. Surely Pitt did well in rejecting the proposals of Dr. William Hunter for
framing a government national school for professing and teaching physic. The sciences
and arts certainly want no such aids, or rather, impediments.

And 1 confess I felt it a little hard, after making so many unquestionable discoveries,
and the expenses I had been exposed to in one way or other with these animals, that
no proposition for a reward, no expression of favour, ever reached me from the college,
though every year we heard of the great pecuniary rewards that were being showered
upon the professors' partner, William Sewell, for pretended discoveries he had made,
but which we could easily have shown, had we been consulted, were no discoveries of
at all, and of which he never dared to make any public avowal, or to give any de-
scription.

forcibly upon the hoof, and occasion lameness, of which we apprehend
we have seen, with other practitioners also, various instances.

It seems to have its origin, and certainly derives its succulence
from the skin, to which it forms a strong adherence; being secreted
along with the hoof, it descends along with it by the growth, till at
length, losing its succulence, it becomes dry, withers, and falls off,
leaving, as we have stated, a beautifully-polished epidermis to the
hoof. The formation of an epidermis within a covering of this sort
is also, we believe, a rare occurrence.

On the structure of this band. We have not hitherto paid that
close attention to it we could wish, but believe, from what examination
we have had time to make, that it is formed of reticulated threads of
firmer horn, chiefly longitudinally disposed, and filled in with a highly
elastic gummy horn, very much affording the same feel as the Cha-
outchuc extract, or India rubber; it is evidently derived from the
skin, and is probably capable of arranging the secretions from it into
its own organization, and we are also led into the apprehension that
the curious structure of the hoof, and the keraphylla especially, are
obtained in the same way, but leave this suggestion with all in-
certitude for farther inquiry.

There is a thread-like artery runs between each leaf of the Kera-
phylla and Podophylla: this artery is probably the immediate se-
creting agent of these parts. This is rendered the more probable
from the Keraphylla at their summits not being so wide as they are
lower down; it is therefore clear they must at any rate receive ac-
cessions after they quit the coronary circle.

In the cloven-footed animals there is clearly no distinct frog; there
is, however, a part which answers its purpose in each claw, occupying
in the pig, for example, a space equal to two thirds of the sole, being
a projected, thinner, and more elastic horn than the rest of the under
surface of the claw, and from this proceeds the band.

Still continuing our general exterior view of the frog in the en-
graving, we see on either side of it deep longitudinal excavations,

formed by the recedence of the inflexions; these, as we have for-
merly stated, we term the cavities of the commissures of the frog, and
having described them with the wall, shall not again repeat them here,
only to observe, that the frog, as an elastic part or body, would in
vain have been elastic without this space for its operations or for the
exercise of it. These cavities, however, are in part closed at their
posterior and upper parts by an extension or process of the base of
the frog, which is passing over them to form the bulbs : and these
parts, by way of distinction from the other parts of the foot, we have
called The arches of the commissure, for it is these arches, the smiths
without understanding them, cut away with their buttresses, when
they get embarrassed by the falling in of the hoof; pretending they
are throiving open the heels ; though it obviously is the very surest
way to contract them; for denuded parts, exposed to the air, ever dry
and diminish in volume, as well as the more we weaken parts, the
more are they forced in by the iron shoe.

We may now discover that the hoof of the horse is formed simply
of two circles of horn, the one of hard, the other of soft horn ; the
latter running everywhere round the upper edge or margin of the
hard horn, forming however, between the two inflexions the singular
body we term the frog, which, as we shall see hereafter, is in the
foetal part merely a lax membrane lodging between these parts, per-
mitting the bars or inflexions almost to approach in contact, and so
diminish the volume of the part in the womb. And the bulbs also
are in this early state regularly finished members extending over a
portion of the sole, as we shall explain hereafter.

Seen from without, the frog makes a bold projecting appearance,
as though it were a solid body of horn; and the smiths, certainly
deceived by this appearance, entertain but indifferent notions of its
real structure; for it is in reality an inverted arch only of horn, that
is, turned downwards and reversed in respect to the general arch
formed by the sole and bars, that its real thickness in horn is not so
considerable as on a first view it would appear to be.

The frog seen from within, that is to say, when the foot has been
drawn forth from the hoof, presents a simple inverted triangular arch
so intimately connected with the bars, that no one would suspect
it of being a distinct or divisible part; one uniform uninterrupted
porous surface being every where observable on this inside. It may,
however, be exhibited as a distinct inserted part, by making an hori-
zontal section of the foot through the union of the bar with the side
of the frog, when the difference of their structure and appearance,
and the line of their applied surfaces become sufficiently visible and
distinct. A hoof exposed to the weather will also be seen in its
decay to separate at this part first, so that it is assuredly a very
distinct part from the rest of the hoof. By actual admeasurement
in several instances,�for they are indeed at present truly rare of
nearly perfect feet,�we find, in a remarkable manner, that the base
of the frog occupies a certain division of the general circle of the
hoof, and that this division is about a sixth part of the whole circum-
ference of it: by knowing this fact, we are not only led to entertain
more just notions of the form of the foot, and the proportion of its
parts, but it affords us also an easy means of forming a pretty accu-
rate guess of what injury or diminution the foot has sustained at
any period of the life of the horse, without having previously seen
the original state of the frog.

Having now seen all the parts presented to the eye in the exterior
of the frog, and explained the true cause of frushes, we shall now
pass to other particulars, not at all less necessary to be understood,
of the ceconomy of this part, as to its growth and casting off the
excess of its growth, its exfoliations at times, and especially its
abuses from an ignorance of its natural properties and powers, which
views will tend to displace some hitherto generally-admitted doctrines
in the practice of the shoeing art. At any rate, being once clearly
stated, they will appear upon the carpet of investigation, and receive
confirmation or rejection as they are founded in truth, or otherwise.

Of the growth of the Frog, and the abominable practice of cut-
ting and slicing it. The frog has appeared to us to be naturally
slower m its growth than the other parts of the foot, and it seems in
some feet to be nearly or quite arrested in its growth by the effects
° ^Sh°^ei_i^ng' ^notwitlistanding this, and although there be in a general
way rather too little than too much horn, yet are the farriers ever
slicing it with their buttresses, and denuding it almost to the quick ;
an it is the current opinion of these men, wholly ignorant of its
oeconomy or structure, that if left to itself « it will run," as they ex-
press it, « all over the foot;" therefore they pare it to keep it in due
bounds Their statement however, is wholly a misapprehension,
and exhibits only their total ignorance of the resources of nature in
the oeconomy of the part; for it possesses the perfect power of
maintaining its own figure without any assistance from art. If it
was otherwise, every horse from overgrowth must become a natural
cripple; therefore the Almighty Framer of the animal has also given
to this part the power of throwing off in branny scales, or small
flakes or dust, the superfluous growth, after the prescribed thickness
o± its horn is accomplished. The proof of it lies before us in the
very frog we see here represented, which for five years of unrestrained
growth by any artificial means, presents the beautiful surface we see
it possess.

solf which¹ ^WGl^be ^SUrprised ^at ^tMs' ^since ^h ^is ^the ^same with the
havinZ ^ T^^d ^fr°^m ^Concave ^become convex by overgrowth ; but
and coh ^ass%ned limits of its thickness, it loses its tenacity

without 1^ lidT w*t -^ "* *"" ^ ** P"*""**
:, . _t . ^m l^which m a state of nature it could not receive)

its natural form anrl i� i,- ! , �

though in rather *U P^⁶^ ^ ^fr°^g ^ ^1§ ^COncU�^g>

horn Afferent way, suited to the peculiar nature of its

the smliw !?** f ^the ^Smiths ^is perfectly groundless, and without

mark there �' * ^leaSt ⁱⁿ ^a ^general ^w^~^' ^we �ay re-
e now and then occurring large relaxed frogs of a pro-

digious size, that seem an exception to this rule; they are however
so rare, that they ought not in the least to disturb it. They occur
principally in large draft-horses bred in low swampy situations; and
so little frequent are they, that in several years attention to these
objects, we have not met with more than three or four of them in
some thousands of horses: that unless it may be to some who prefer
reasoning from an exception rather than a general rule, they cannot
invalidate the prevailing truth of the conclusions here drawn; and
even these relaxed and weak frogs demand the horn that covers
them, which is of a softer nature, suited to their defence as much as
the harder horn usually found with frogs is required by them, that
this idea of the frog requiring to be cut, in order to prevent its run-
ning over the foot, can have no real foundation. And if what we
have stated be true, it should produce an essential change of mea-
sures for the better in the practice of this art, and lead to important
results, since they are the errors of an extensive and daily practice,
we could wish, therefore, in a more particular manner, to direct the
public attention to them.

Next there appears a more plausible motive for cutting the frog,
which is this, that from the defence afforded by the shoe, the parts of
the hoof which are constantly growing, and having no means of wear,
they must be removed before the shoe be applied again; and the sole
indeed is held so firm by the nails embracing the wall, that its flakes
have not the opportunity of discharging themselves, and will indeed
want removing with the knife, as does usually a portion of the sole,
which thickens under these artificial circumstances, and the frog of
course, say they, should undergo the same sort of discipline in being
pared with the other parts; and this reasoning has met with acqui-
escence from the commencement of the shoeing art, probably, to this
day. The projecting solid appearance of the frog�its consistence
resembling that of leather or hard cheese, cutting with a smooth and
polished surface, invites the knife, and causes it to be more sliced on
this account, we apprehend, than it would otherwise be, and the

workman fashions it to the conception he has formed in his own mind
of the figure this part should receive. Now this proposition or rea-
soning of theirs is not so much to be complained of; I would that
their reason was always as good in all other instances, though this is
too much to expect in the uneducated, as we daily have reason to
see. What we have in this respect to advance will, we believe, carry
a conviction of the propriety of a different doctrine as to this part,
and more suited to the peculiar nature of it, which is this�-that the
frog, naturally slower of growth than the other parts, becomes after
a time from shoeing almost stationary as to its growth, and diminishes
in some degree from the first application of it. That its growth is
impeded, or rather wholly stopped, after the foot has been some
years shod, we may be assured of, and in what degree it is so, by
marking or cutting a small notch upon its surface, which we have
found by experiment to take very many months to grow out. Indeed
we once closely watched the frog in an old horse, which frog had
been considerably diminished by long shoeing, for several, as eight or
nine months, without any instrument whatever having been suffered
to touch it, and at the end of this period, the frog was not visibly
larger than at first; and this singular fact can, we believe, admit
of an explanation. The wall of the hoof, we may remark, where
there is a demand from its wear, grows rapidly, as when in a state of
nature, and exposed to the ground; but shod, it loses this power in
so great a degree, that in many horses a few thin slices only can be
removed at each shoeing, after the interval of a month or five weeks,
in which time twenty times as much horn would have been produced
had there been a demand for it; so that the arrestation of the
growth of the frog (which is of slower growth than the wall) is not
so surprising, especially if _we reflect that, the hoof closing from the
compression of the shoe, the frog becomes squeezed laterally, which
weakens its nature, and its cut surface also drying and hardening,
compresses it also in every other direction, that its circulation and
health being affected, the failure of its growth appears to be a neces-

k 2

sary consequence : so that it is from these circumstances we are led
to infer that the frog, from the moment of the commencement of
shoeing, will, without any cutting at all, diminish more than fast
enough.

But, like most general rules, a discretion may be necessary in some
cases. A deeper and larger frog than ordinary will at times occur,
that will reach even below the shoe. In this case a thicker heel, or,
which is better, a shoe a little turned up, will always prevent it from
too much battering upon the ground, and this difficulty is not very
often occurring.

We shall next consider another alleged motive for cutting slices
from the horn of this part, which is, to remove the rags. Let us now
see what these rags are, and how they are formed, and we shall then
in truth see whether this be necessary or not. That there is no rag
nor scale in the frog presented to the reader is evident by the inspec-
tion of the plate, (see frontispiece,) which gives a precise copy of its
surface ; and so it is almost ever found to be in the generality of
frogs at the commencement of shoeing the feet, if a slice be taken
away from this part, its exterior coat removed, and interior one ex-
posed, which, being of a moister and more succulent nature, quickly
dries in the air and heat of the stable, and contracting, cracks ; the
edges of the crack, in drying, reflect or turn back, and create an un-
even ragged appearance of the frog; this they remove by a deeper
incision, getting nearer and nearer to the quick at each cutting; till
the frog, flayed and diminished in its size, and dried and brittle,
becomes too tender for the contact of hard bodies, and thus, earlier
than there is any occasion, is created a source of grievance and
danger in the use of the horse, and thus are these rags formed;�or,
at other times the horn cracking through to the quick, wet cankers
the foot; or in other cases, as we have sometimes observed, the frog
contracting under this procedure more rapidly than the quarters can
follow it, an entire separation at the commissure takes place, with
fatally-destructive consequences.

Still this recommendation of not cutting the frog, without being
further explained, might appear similar to the usual recommendations
on this head heretofore given in most books on these subjects : there
is this difference, however, that their apprehensions were directed
solely to the quick or living part of the frog, lest this should be too
much exposed, admitting at the same time the propriety of the
smith's opinions about over-growth and rags, which they considered
as really creating a necessity for its being pared. Our view in not
cutting is to preserve the exterior of the frog as entire as possible,
having proved that there is no fear of its passing beyond its natural
figure and assigned limits, and also from its outside covering being as
necessary to it as the exterior cuticular covering is to any other part
of the hoof or body; indeed more so, from its exposed situation to the
road. Our only apprehensions in making this recommendation a ge-
neral one, are, that in some cases the frog may get too much pressure,
unless the shoe be thickened or turned up at the heels to accommo-
date it; nor need this, if thought objectionable, be long continued,
as the frog will begin to waste and shrink soon after the shoeing
commences, so as to remove the necessity of this measure; nor
would this be at all necessary, but on account of a remarkable cir-
cumstance which takes place in shod feet, hitherto wholly unobserved,
but which will be seen in the experiment hereafter to be related, viz.,
that on the first application of the shoe to a natural foot, the frog
falls and drops below its level; and this takes place, it would appear,
from the operation of two causes ; one is, that the weight of the
horse pressing into the hoof, and its sides not being in a state to
expand, being confined by the nails, a severer pressure inwards and
downwards ensues, forcing the frog, and keeping it permanently below
its level; and the other is, that the frog, elevated by the shoe, and
not exper'encing its usual support from the ground, cannot but remain
m this state; but this first effect of the shoe only lasts, or has the
appearance of lasting, for a time; for by the nature of this compres,
sion of the shoe, it occasions a general diminution by absorption of all

the posterior soft parts of the foot, and they adapt themselves in
some degree to their new condition ; so that, what with its diminution
from cutting and pressure, and from the general absorption of the softer
parts, it resumes in some degree its former elevated situation in the
foot, where the thickness of the shoe is in general fully sufficient to
prevent its being battered too much upon the road, so that I doubt if
this rule may not be rendered absolute of not cutting away any part
of the frog, unless some accident causes the discretional use of this
hitherto incalculably-destructive procedure.*

Of its Exfoliations. As there are at times exfoliations of the
horn of the frog taking place, and which, being observed, have been
often supposed the natural means of riddance of its superfluous
growth, but which we have already stated is performed by a more
simple process ; so our researches have led to different conclusions
respecting these remarkable exfoliations. Indeed it is our wish to
bring only that part of our studies before the public which have led
us to different conclusions from the usual notions entertained of
these things, as being the most useful sort of addition to the stock of
knowledge we are already in possession of; which will account for
the frequent claims we have made to novel views, or the discovery of
new objects in this work: we wish that most of them may prove
correct, and stand the test of that enquiry we could wish should take
place about these objects, which cannot but be for the advantage of
the public, by improving our knowledge concerning these useful ani-
mals, and in time will lead to their better treatment; for much abuse
which they experience springs from the disappointment which expect-
ations ignorantly founded, occasion.

* Indeed to save these poor sufferers, we have published a single sheet on this sub-
ject for the use of Forges, price 6d., where these things are more fully described.

The exfoliations of the frog appear to be too irregular in their oc-
currence for a process that should belong to the necessary growth of
a part, and seem in reality to be the attendant of some change of
circumstances to which the frog is exposed: as for instance, if a
horse that has been some time shod, and kept in a stable, be sud-
denly turned out to grass, the horn swelling and relaxing, a deep ex-
foliation will take place, and a succession of these exfoliations will
follow each other, each being a longer time in forming than the pre-
ceding one, till at length it becomes suited to its new situation : if
now the horse be brought back again to the stable, the relaxed horn
so formed at grass will be thrown off, and a new succession of exfoli-
ations be carried on, till again the part gets habituated to the circum-
stances of its situation, when they will cease to form, or only form in
very long periods. This appears the habit of this part in this respect,
which having stated, we leave for future more correct enquiry. We
may remark that the blood vessels of the frog do not enter into its
horn nearly so deep as they do in the sole and wall, and which may
afford us some clue to the explanation of this phenomenon: and
perhaps its very great elasticity and easy change of form are also
contributing to this affection.

On Frog-pressure. Our next and last consideration regarding the
ceconomy of this part will be an enquiry into the probable degree of
pressure nature designed it to receive. As on this important circum-
stance has been principally founded by some the hope of relief from
the evils of shoeing, so I could wish to direct more particularly the at-
tention of my brother professors in the veterinary art to this subject, and
whether more has not been set down for this part to do than nature
ever designed it should do, or than it has powers to perform, and
which has been the great obstacle that has ever frustrated their views,
and has proved a source of much cruel treatment to the animal.
And I conceive I am entitled to as much confidence in giving an

opinion as any other professor in this art, from the various discoveries
I have actually made in the structure of this organ; for it is lamentable
to see how easy it is in a professor, professing an art he never under-
stood, to fill the minds of unsuspecting youth with false impressions,
which time nor better information can ever afterwards entirely
remove : profession is indeed not always possession, as we but too
often see ; for all can profess, but all cannot acquire, where the path is
attended with difficulty.�I now with diffidence, and after much re-
flection on the subject, lay before my readers what views I have
arrived at respecting this remarkable part. And in undertaking to
exhibit more correct views respecting it, shall at once grant the posi-
tion that the frog will admit of pressure; but this concession must
be immediately followed by the question or inquiry of the nature and
degree of this pressure; on the ascertaining of which, the point of
enquiry, or question at issue, can be only duly satisfied.

We may readily imagine that a part so exposed by nature to the
ground will not be deficient in properties to bear its impulses, and
will be provided with the means of neutralizing their effects : and so
indeed it is, yielding like a sponge, and altering its shape to any im-
pression of this sort; but when we come to talk of putting iron to
it, and of giving it a primary bearing upon it, or by cutting away the
inflexions, giving it a naked thrust against the ground, then we hesi-
tate not to say such a degree of pressure was never designed it; and
when added to this, that it was intended for a forcer of the inflexions,
we are most completely at issue, and when the foot is shod in the
usual way with nails through an inflexible ring of iron, embracing
both sides of the foot, that men under such restraints it is to attack
and overcome them, we say the proposition is most preposterous.
Let us now consider why it is so, from an examination of the struc-
ture and relative position of the part.

That it evades forcible pressure in many ways, we have already
seen; and to -these we will now add various additional strong argu-
ments, to show most fully the absurdity of such a doctrine. And in

doing this there will not be hardly anything so convincing to an en-
lightened mechanic or physiologist, as a due regard to the levels of
all the parts of the underside of the foot; since they must inevitably
lead us to just conclusions of the relative degrees of pressure that each
part was destined to receive, and will proclaim more distinctly the
secrets of the foot in respect to this faculty than any other. And in
doing this, we shall first begin by noticing a most beautiful provision
which adapts all the inferior parts of the foot to the various soils that
they would in nature have to encounter, as, first, in the circumstance
of a horse standing on very hard ground, such as a rock, or a paving
of stone; we then see that the lower circle of the wall will alone come
in contact with such a surface, being hard to hard ; but if on yielding
softer ground that is in degree broken, such as a gravel road, the
wall will sink into it in a slight degree, and a second range of parts
will become exposed to it, as the outer edges of the sole and the bars ;
and when again the foot should be exposed to perfectly soft ground,
such as the natural sod, or a ploughed field, the wall will readily sink
in, and the bars also and edges of the sole, and a third range of parts
will then take a share in the bearing, viz., the cushion, and afterwards
the more retiring base of the frog, giving soft parts to soft impressions,
from which no harm can arise or inconvenience be felt. Now the pres-
sure under the last circumstances must be doubly relieved and agree-
able, in respect to mere feeling, from not only the softness of the me-
dium, but by the vast multiplication of the points of bearing, and the
impression will also be easiest to those parts which last receive it. So
that there is a most beautiful provision made that these very soft and
almost tender parts shall not be distressed by hard bodies. This
single circumstance speaks volumes to an attentive observer, open to
the language of nature.

If we turn our attention to the very nature and material of which
the frog is composed, we shall find it no other than an inverted hollow
arch of not very hard horn, that is, if it has not been abused and cut,
and of nearly the consistence of Caoutchuc or elastic gum, incapable,

therefore, of much resistance, or of carrying much forcible pressure to
the neighbouring parts, which are also of a harder nature than itself;
that if it had really to operate such an effect upon them, it would be
very much as the employing a wedge of dough to rend a block of wood,
the absurdity of which does not require demonstration, and especially
when such parts were confined on each side by an iron ring and nails.
Let us also see the manner this arch of the frog is connected to the
bars by its upper edges or margins, being the heels of this inverted arch,
in which position it could produce little or no effect; and that the sides
of the frog can produce none, the wide cavities of the commissures
distinctly enough proclaim, that how any one capable of the least
reflexion, when considering these parts, could for a moment, have so
widely erred, in attaching such an office to it, is most extraordinary.*
But the strongest evidence of all will be obtained by an actual ad-
measurement of the distance at which this part is made to retire in the
perfectly natural foot, within the levels of the wall and of the other
parts of its inferior surface; and having before us a cast in plaster of
the very foot from which the engraving is made, we will proceed to
measure these circumstances with as much accuracy as we are able; and
since this foot had attained its fifth year without the least restraint from
artificial measures, so it will be a fairer example to reason from than
can at present be readily found; for the operation of the iron upon
the natural foot is vastly more rapid than any one not having inves-
tigated this matter would believe, but of which we shall presently
afford demonstrative proof, f And as it is from shod feet that hitherto
ideas and reasonings on these matters have been formed; for it was

* Coleman is used, as we are credibly informed, artfully to tell his pupils, that if Mr. Clark
did but know that fluids and soft bodies will resist, if confined, (that is hermetically,) as for-
cibly as solids, he would believe his doctrine. The position in itself, as a general maxim,
may be true, but in no way unfortunately does it apply to the case, as all confinement
of the frog is out of the question, it having a most guarded and ample space around it,
and the more it descends from pressure above, the more freedom and open space it
obtains below.

f Casts in Plaster of Paris, from the very model, may be had of the Author, or of
E. Limebeer, the bookseller, Giltspur Street, with a box, price 2s. 6d.

naturally apprehended that as soon as the shoe was off the foot the
foot was again- in a state of nature, that is, if it had a sound, and to-
lerable appearance to the eye; for the eye also soon gets used to de-
form: y, and does not discover it. And this error it was in taking the
shod loot for a natural one that embarrassed and misled me in all my
nrst experiments, on what I conceived to be the natural foot, during
several years, and completely obscured my views of the true nature
mese things, and my predecessors also, as the general tenor of
their works will sufficiently indicate. For the foot shod even only
twelve months is more changed than any one, unapprised, would
oeiieve. Quitting, however, these remarks, we proceed to an exami-
nation of the actual state of the frog in the natural foot, for another
lull grown natural foot we are not likely soon to see again; as this
can only be done by a horse kept expressly for the purpose. And
any one who is so disposed, has the power to follow us by so doing
and to detect any error if we have mis-stated any circumstance;
which we shall not at any rate intentionally do.
This _mo(H _pkster _cagt _Qf ^ _foot> ^.^ ^^ _downwardg

upon its proper bearings on a flat level table, gives an elevation of
the frog above the bearing surface of the wall, as nearly as I can
measure it, of about three eighths of an inch in the very lowest part
t the frog which is found to be the margin, or lips of the deft.-
the he-It⁶ ^g! ^T' ^and ^embraC6S ^the Mexions, half an inch is
vation is fidl ^ ^ ^V6ry ^eXtremity °^f ^the ^base ^ the frog, the de-

^::ittZ::ⁿt^^ove ^th:^level ^of ^the ^tabie- ⁿ°^w ^the »**

forciblvle i member within the other parts of the hoof

that on�* Z ^ ^C°^nclude>^that ^ � not by any means designed for
ht ₀"r L^dT^e °^f P^reSSUre ^that ^has **n apprehended; and
^ZtrT^ T r^neSS °^f ^ ^W' -P-^h the horn of
^ntitious nat�JVX ^0t' *"* ^the ^alm°^St' ^We ^COuld ^have �*> ad-
^foal to be show I /^art' ^aS ^fr°^m ^ltS ^non"^aPP^ea^ce in the young
-on in this 1 r^after' ^W0UM ^alt°^gether P^erfeC% ^decide our opi
the foot, _is seenTn plate 2^' ^^ ^ **""* ^ "

Nor can we omit to mention another circumstance, which appears
to come in strong confirmation of these ideas respecting the frog;
which is a passage in the most ancient of all authors on the subject of
horses. The venerable Xenophon wrote several hundred years before
the art of nail-shoeing was had recourse to, and he remarks, in his
advice respecting the selection of a horse, " that the lofty foot is to
be preferred, as in it the frog is raised high above the ground ;" and
he further compares those horses whose frogs or soft parts come to
the ground, to " cripples among men, who are wont to go on parts
nature never designed they should;" * or, as he observes, go equally
on the weak as on the strong parts. The above particular advice
appears to point out two very curious circumstances : first, that they
did not shoe, for that would have raised the frog high enough,
and higher than was necessary, and made the recommendation use-
less; and secondly, by their use of the foot in the natural state,
they found by experience that, if the frog was low, by its battering
against the ground it was subject-to become tender; hence the pre-
ference given to the high-placed frog. After the same manner do the
veterinarians of the second and third centuries, who were employed
in the Roman armies of the Eastern Empire, also recommend the
choice of a horse's foot; but emphatically add " small" to " an ele-
vated frog,"f as it must, no doubt, be not so subject in consequence
to become tender, from being less soft, as well as less exposed to the
road.

I have, however, observed in young feet, that is, at two or three
years old, that the frogs are on a lower level, in respect to the other
parts of the foot, than at a more advanced age. As all the parts of

* Oi yap 7raxe?s ttoXv rwv \sttt&v §ia<ptpovaiv sts tvirofilay. etreiTa ovfih rovro Bet \av9dp�iv, TrSrtpov at 6ir\ai Utrw
vfqkal fy rairzLVoX, koI i^iirpocrQev, ttaX uTVLcrOeu, ^ xa/x?jAa(. at ftev yap v\pr]\a\ TrtJ/3pa> airb rod Sa-rreSou �Xovo~i rhv
X^kidava ica\ovfxiv7]V^ at 8e rair^ival <5/xoiojs fSaivovcri tw re tffx^pordrw, Ka\ tw juaAaKtoraToj rod Troths, Sunrep ot {5\ai<ro\
vw avOpaircay.�-IIEPI IHtllKH^, Ed. LeUllC. p. 932.

f XeAtSoVa Se (xucphv exovres efaoSes Aral byadol.�ApST/l'tuS Ctpud Scrip. GrCGC. Vet, p. 252.
Oi ffv/Mpveis KarcvOeu tca\ x^AiSJvas /xiKpas ^xopt^s.�Ibid., p. 2o3.

the foot, especially of the posterior parts, are then in a very supple
state, and may receive from the frog that pressure that will in a degree
assist to unfold and open them to the extent nature requires, in which
the bars will also co-operate with the frog and inflexions. This purpose
effected, and the growth and strength of the foot completed, the frog
we find assumes a higher station, more out of the reach of too much
battering upon the ground. The frog of my bay colt, (Heathfield) at
two years old, was soft and puffy, and swollen in the middle, and with-
out much feature, and the frog-stay with a chop or slit longitudinally
extending beyond the proper limits of the cleft; and the margins were
beginning to appear, but shapeless as yet, so that out of this soft
mass the frog forms itself, and at length becoming harder, and con �
densing in volume, it receives its sharpness and features. See PL 6.
At five years old exactly, and in the month of May, my chesnut
mare, after two or three exfoliations in quick succession, had the frog
suddenly become very pointed, and the body of the frog also became
diminished and harder, and its sides impressed or bent in,. giving
it a handsome sharp feature, and an efficient appearance for service.
So that it is not till five, this organ obtains its proper appearance.
This I mention, lest a casual view of the frog in a young horse might
lead the reader to suspect the above statement not to be correct.

It appears also, in fact, that it is not so much from the upward pres-
sure against the frog, as from the downward pressure of the limb and
weight of the body upon the bones of the foot, that should produce
this effect of expansion upon the yielding contents of the hoof:
timely assisted, and in due time prevented, from too much depression
in this direction, by meeting with che support of the frog, then
brought to the ground at the time the strain and weight is greatest :
the sides of the foot then expanding laterally through their whole
extent, and springing back again to their places on the removal of
the exertion and weight. And they must, in any violent exertion, as
m galloping, &c, where the force is tenfold that of the mere weight,
make these parts, if at liberty, play, or expand to an extent, that

merely considering the hoof in the hand can give us but a faint con-
ception of.

It is therefore most clear to me, that the frog of the horse is no
wedge for forcing the foot, but is given to fill up the chasm of the
inflexions, and to adapt it to all kinds of weights or impressions, and
to permit the change of form necessary to the foot, to guarantee it also
from the fatigue which a too solid resistance would have rendered it
liable to, and to preserve the animal from the concussion and reaction
he would have experienced without it. So that the revival of this
old French nonsense of Lafosse by our college has done more harm
than it has ever done good, and by adding to it other follies and abo-
minable cruelties when the doctrine was not found to succeed, instead
of abandoning it, was certainly highly reprehensible.

Indeed, after a consideration of all the circumstances, our conclusions
would be, that the frog is not designed by nature for much pressure,
and that only at intervals, when under strong exertion to relieve the
other parts, or against soft ground to partake in the general bearing.

As we have been witness at times to the horrible suffering of this
animal from these most absurd doctrines, so we hope, after so clear
an exposure of their error, we shall hear no more of his being thus
tormented which would indeed be little less than criminal ignorance
and scandalous barbarity.

Composition of the Frog. Its horn is quite peculiar, being but
little organized, and perhaps without the pores of perspiration, such
as the wall and sole have, it is indeed more like dense elastic gum
than horn, and which probably is the cause of those large masses or
coats of exfoliation, from its not having the power of ridding itself
under great change of circumstances in smaller portions, these being
in their commencement of the full depth of the frog. Its growth
seems very much independent of the growth of the other parts of
the hoof, and it is much more slow even in health, and still more so
when coerced, cut, weakened, contracted, and diseased.

By more careful observation, I since have found that the frog does
not exfoliate in branny scales, as I imagined formerly, but in real thin

layers of horn which become dry, and detach themselves : their pre-
sence is a defence, nor can they do the smallest harm that should
render it necessary to use the knife; for the road will amply perform
all necessary removal.

On the names of the Frog.�In concluding this account of the
frog of the horse, it may be matter of curiosity to some of my read-
ers, to know the various appellations this singular part has obtained
with different nations. The French call it La Fourchette, or the
fork; the Latins called it Furca ; and once only in Vegetius we find
the term " Pendiginem" applied to this part, apparently from its
hanging down, or being suspended from the roofing of the sole of the
hoof, as it might appear to them. The Greeks termed it _XeAiSwv, or
the swallow, having a distant resemblance to the oval pointed body
of that bird: or, which is more probable, from its forked tail, the two
halves of the base of the frog dividing into two portions somewhat
of this resemblance. It ever occurs, however, with them, in the
plural, ^sXiSova.

We had formerly apprehended that the word frog was wholly an
English designation; but we have since observed that the same name,
in the very same sense we now employ it, occurs with the Greek vete-
rinarians of the lower empire, who have called it fiaTpamv, or frog, as we
now do. Needhams Geoponicorum, l.xvi. ArgumentumAbsyrti,j}A17.
It may, however, be a corruption of the text;» and this I am the
more disposed to believe, from the collator being an Englishman, and
still more so from the writings of Absyrtus, which are many, in the
Scriptores rei Veterinarice, having no such word, he always using the
epithet y*kilv>v, as we see in a former page.

Vegetius, the most elegant of the Roman writers on these subjects
has called this part ramula, lib. 1, cap. 56, ed. Manheimii, p. 80, which
is perhaps a corruption, or technical, for rimula, derived probably from
rima, the cleft or chink of the foot, Ranula does also occur in Vegetius,
and is probably nothing but a corruption of the above, lib. 2, cap. 58.
Ranuloe, with Vegetius, were evidently the blains or boils on the lips

of oxen, lib. 3, cap. 3, ed. cit. p. 169. It is evident indeed that such
a term as rana, ranula, or frog, applied to this part of the horse's
foot, unless to an Englishman, would be quite unintelligible.

The extraordinary origin of the term running Thrush, deducible
by legitimate steps from the Latin word Furca, which we have traced
satisfactorily, will be found, we apprehend, amusing enough : Furca,
in French Fourche, and its diminutive Fourchette; this contracted
became the running Fourche; and from thence we find about the
days of queen Elizabeth, as in Blundville, and other writers of this
period, running Frush ; and subsequently in James's reign, and after
this period, on the establishment of horse races, and the prevailing
influence of the jockeys, who, not finding in their vocabulary of
English words such a one as Frush, declared it must mean a Thrush,
and a running Thrush it has ever since been called by the whole
kingdom, though the running blackbird would have been almost as
appropriate.

A considerable obscurity also prevails as to the origin of the term
frog, applied in England to this member of the horse's foot; and we
once were led to conjecture that it might possibly have been obtained
from the Roman furca, as the transitions from furca to furc, froc,
and frog, were not difficult. But we are now led to believe, from
maturer consideration, that it is of a much more recent date; for in
reality this appellation does not extend much further back than a
century, and we confidently believe it to have had its origin in the
manner following.

The oldest of our English writers followed the French in calling
this part Frush, being but a slight remove from their fourche, as we
see in Blundeville, De Grey, and others, and which prevailed to the
time of the Commonwealth, or the restoration of the Stuarts, by
whom were instituted horse-races, and which led to a more extensive
use of the horse, and, in some respects, to a more refined consider-
ation of him, in order to success in these races. And the painful
tenderness of a frog, labouring under an ulceration and discharge

from the cleft, became more an object of regard, as also from its in-
creased frequency from the habits of using shoes, and of the shoeing
smiths in cutting the part; so it received very naturally the name
of the running frush, which meant no more at first than the running
or discharging frog. The word frush, however, being strange to
these men, soon became converted into thrush, being exclusively ap-
plied, and technically used for the disorder only, and became absorbed
in the diseased part; this next created a necessity for writers sub-
sequently, or the men themselves, to invent some other name for the
entire organ; and it was about the time of Gibson, or of Markham,
one of his predecessors, that they first took to calling this part the
frog, which absurd term has been ever since continued in this country,
but is wholly unknown to any other : such appears to be the true
steps of the explanation of this affair : and to which I may add also,
that in my opinion the sooner the term is abandoned again the
better, to which so many morbid notions attach, and to employ in its
stead the ancient term furca, furc, or furch, as may be thought pre-
ferable ; the latter we prefer as being more strong and distinctive.*

We could however desire forcibly to recommend to those who
wish to write intelligibly or elegantly on these subjects in treating of
the frog, or its qualities or relations, to recur again as much as pos-
sible to the original Latin epithet/Mrca, since rana, ranula, or ranine,
can never apply but to the animal itself. The following may serve
as examples of this use. Furcaceous weakness is difficult to be
overcome. The furcaceous structure in the foot is peculiar to the
horse tribe, though furcaceous rudiments exist with the feet of many
families of quadrupeds. Furcaceous debility and tenderness ever
follow its being hacked by the knives of the smiths, &c. Indeed this
would be greatly to the advantage of the science; and in removing

* The French translator laughed when I told him we called it la grenouille; and I ac-
knowledge I felt also somewhat ashamed of the taste of my countrymen ; but when he
was compelled to use merle courant to translate running thrush, he became perfectly
convulsed.

the silly term frog from the horse's foot, we shall only remove a mis-
nomer and barbarism of the first order, the use of which will be ever
attended with confusion and ambiguity; and by restoring again the
ancient term furch, we enrich the English language, and add to its
copiousness, by a useful and expressive term well suited to the sub-
ject, and for a distinct object that never can again be confounded
with any other. We may also use running furch for the discharging
frog without any confusion; or we may, which perhaps may be still
better, retain the word frush exclusively for the disorder; either
way, however, no confusion can arise whichever of these terms we
choose to employ.

We now conclude our description of the external furch, leaving
the highly curious structure of the internal furch to be given with
the attaching parts. And for some further particulars of the growth
of the furch, arid cure of the frush, we must refer the reader to our
Treatise on Running Frush. London. 1821. 2d edit.

Of the Sole.

We have thought it advantageous to describe the above two im-
portant members of the hoof, the wall and the frog, together, or in suc-
cession, as conveying to the mind a more lively and combined notion
of their mutual actions and relations; so we now proceed to consider
the third and last member composing the hoof, viz. the Sole : for in
reality there are no more than three full parts to form the hoof,
though they may be divided into five for minutely examining them;
for in fact the two inflexions are but parts of the wall, and the fur-
caceous extension round the upper part of the hoof forming the
band, may be considered as one with the frog; the sole is therefore
making the third member of the hoof. For its appearance when de-
tached, the reader may consult pi. 2, fig. 3; and in combination with
the other parts, pi. 1, or frontispiece.

This part may be described as an irregular thick plate of horn,

given to fill up the great inferior opening of the wall, and may be
said to consist of two oval pieces united in front, but widely separated
and diverging posteriorly, and presenting to the ground a concave or
arched figure, more or less flat. This arch is not however the portion
of the inside of a regular sphere, but is very irregular, having a
waving or undulating appearance from the centre to the circum-
ference ; its central parts are also more cupped, and thinner in horn
where its motion is more demanded; but in passing upon the inflec-
tions, it suddenly spreads itself, and taking a direction upwards, pre-
sents a broad surface of attachment to these parts. Its outer margin
in approaching the wall declines, then rising again it dilates to a
broad surface for adherence to the inside of this part, mixing with the
keraphylla. We may perhaps afford a more familiar notion of its
general figure, by comparing it to the mouth of a bell extremely
extended or flattened. In the hind foot, the sole is not in general so
wide and spreading as in the fore foot, but is deeper, and more arched
or cupped, nor is it so elastic or yielding, being in conformity with
the propelling system of this organ. For we may denote the one limb
by the term propeller, and the other by the term sustainer, or sus-
taining limb.

Nature has secured herself most remarkably in two ways, from the
effects which an arch of common properties would have been liable to,
in becoming more condensed under pressure, and forcibly resisting the
load brought upon it, which would have been subversive of the lead-
ing principles in the mechanism of the hoof�the sole therefore is
cleft to its centre, or even beyond it, by a large triangular opening
formed at its posterior part, which destroying the resistance of the
arch, serves to receive first the inflected ends of the wall of the
hoof, and then is closed and filled up by the insertion of the inverted
arch of the frog; so that these ends of the hoof are thus tied in, and
secured from being forced asunder by the pressure from within, being
thus wedged in between the frog and the sole, and are made to serve
outwardly in their places the other offices we have already noticed,

m 2

and the sole, by the above chasm in its centre, being thus effectually
broken, has a diminished resistance in all its parts.

Again: the lower circumference of this arch of the sole, which
may be considered in the light of the heels of the arch, is every-
where abutting against the sides of the wall, which, as we have for-
merly shown, are rendered yielding to its impression against them,
and the sides of the frog dilating, (which retracts and shortens this
part,) affords full opportunity for the extension, and which is neces-
sarily accompanied with a descent and flattening of the sole, in which
action all parts of the hoof combine, and in this manner, we maintain,
is performed the elastic movement of the hoof, and which we ap-
prehend to be essential to its well-being and healthy existence.

Now the shoe being perfectly inflexible, wherever nailed, will fix the
parts of the wall more or less, and resist its action; the weight then

.^ falling on the sole, it must depend (the sides of the hoof being fixed)
upon the fissure inclosing the frog for its relief and yielding, which
collapsing will cause, as we have before stated, the frog to be com-

__pressed and to descend from its natural situation, and the bars to ap-
proximate, and contraction and disorder ensue : the sole, also, by this
confinement, having less action, is daily thickening and losing its
natural powers of motion, and of throwing off in flakes the super-
fluous growth; sometimes, also, if the nails are brought very close,
or the shoe be made too small, and the hoof be not of the strongest

_ order, the arch of the sole is forcibly thrown upwards against the
coffin bone, and creates the greatest uneasiness and lameness, which
is blindly attributed often to standing in the stable, which may assist
the mischief by its dryness and heat, but cannot alone operate any
such effects.

The texture of the horn of the Sole is vastly more soft and friable
than the wall, and more elastic and spongy, which must usefully
cause any blows upon it from stones of the road to be more obtusely
felt. It soon loses its coherence, and falls away in dead scales and
flakes, by which its concavity and elasticity is preserved. In the

acute founder from sudden chills, it is subject to be detached, forced
downwards, and reversed into a convex form, with cruel suffering, by
the fluids extravasated from the ruptured vessels. In chronic founder,
also, it is liable to be rendered flat, or sometimes convex, by the more
slow process of descent of the bones of the foot, forming a rounded
cavity in its upper surface for their lodgment. Its circumference is
but too often infringed upon by the nails of the smiths, and its
extreme points squeezed between the inflected horn of the wall, or
bruised by exposure to the naked iron of the shoe, being bereft of
its natural protectors, the nodes of the inflexions.

Its Secretion is from the membranous sole, and the vessels passing
through its horn are not perpendicular to its general surface, but ad-
vancing obliquely forward in the direction of the axis of the hoof.
They are short, and freely permit the perspiration.

From the view we have taken of the horse's wall and sole, it will
be seen how imperfectly the ancient phrases Solidungula and Solipes,
&c. would serve to convey a true notion of the structure of this kind of
hoof; for though the front be solid, the posterior parts possess the
greatest degree of elasticity, short of being actually cloven, that can
be imagined, from the sole being cleft and opened to its centre, and
being then filled up by an elastic frog. In such a covering as a
Solidungula would seem to imply, or a continued circle of horn, no
animal could long stand, much less move, without great pain from
jamming and compression, which would soon become destructive.

If it were necessary to make use of a single epithet or phrase for
this sort of foot, the term Semifissipes, or half-cloven foot, would be
less objectionable, though also not exactly true, on. account of the
presence of the frog, which renders the foot in one sense entire again,
and appears to afford the most essential character of this kind of
foot, added to the entire hoof in front.

But the epithet Monuchal, after the Greeks, from fiovo?, one, and
°�S, hoof, is certainly by far the best expression for this order of feet,
as not implying solidity, but only that the hoof is single and un-
divided.

Now the horse's hoof being formed of one entire piece, is perhaps
the most considerable single mass of horn any where to be found
among animals' feet for their defence, so is it also in its plan the
most simple and efficient for a fleet animal, and in the details of its
internal furniture, perhaps the most richly and curiously organized
and embellished of any quadruped.*

Having now concluded our view of the full-grown hoof we pass to
the foetal hoof, and to the attaching parts; but before entering upon
these, we shall in this place, as the best suited for it, introduce a
few remarks on the word heels, when applied to the horse.

On the confusion arising from the use of the word Heels when
applied to the foot of the Horse.

As the term heels, when applied to the horse's foot, really means
nothing, or only that it is one of the posterior parts of the foot or
leg, and is much too vague even for general use, how much less
then is it fitted for the purposes of science, that we could wish to lay
before our readers our reasons for proposing its disuse altogether, at
least amongst the profession.

The bulbs of elastic horn at the back of the frog being the most
posterior parts of the foot, would therefore first claim to be called
heels, if any such parts really existed. The two inflexional columns

* Whilst the present sheet was going to press, my nephew, Charles Clark, accident-
ally turning over the leaves of old De Gray's book, found a passage which serves
strongly to confirm my conjecture of the origin of this barbarous appellation frog, ap-
plied to the horse's foot; and this passage also seems to point out that it was first used
by the country smiths : it is as follows�" How do you cure a Running Frush ?" Ans.
" This is a naughty sorance which I have heard rurall smiths to call the frog, by reason
that it breedeth in that spungy part of the heel that they call the Frog."�De Gray,
p. 213, 1st ed., 1639. So that it began with the rurall smiths, as he quaintly terms
them, and probably had not then reached the metropolis.

below these bulbs are more frequently termed heels, and as often is the
extreme point of the sole; for when these parts get bruised by the
shoe, it is said " his heels are bruised;" and to lay the shoe upon the
heels, is to lay it upon the inflexural angle or node there formed:
again, if the horse be chapped in the bend above the foot, he is said
to be greasy heeled; and if the fetlock is chapped, he is also greasy
heeled; and if the cracks should be near the hock at the back part
of the shank, he is again also said to be greasy heeled.

Now this confusion arises from there being no part in the structure
of the horse's foot that has any resemblance or correspondence what-
ever to the human talus, or heel. The posterior extremity of the
os calcis forms the true human heel, and is brought to the ground;
and this bone in the horse is consequently found in the hock, and
occurs only in the hind extremity, and so far removed from the
ground, that it would be laughably ridiculous to call it in the same
sense we use that term, the heel, not having either its situation or
offices. And as what we call heels in the foot of the horse have no
corresponding structure in the human; so it would be forcing an ana-
logy between parts where there can be none to use the same phrase
for them, and by so acting, to create a perpetual disorder and con-
fusion of ideas.

It would be advantageous to that precision, which an art like this
demands, to remove the term heels entirely from it, as we can as well,
or much better, do without it, and substitute new expressions for all
the parts that have been so miserably miscalled. It is true the term
horny heels, and fleshy heels, might certainly be used as to inside
and outside; but as the inflexions are nothing like a human heel, nor
their contents by any means fleshy, that is, muscular, so in every
way we get into difficulties by their use, and shall assuredly find it
best to avoid such terms. Nor will it be necessary for us here to
enumerate all the names of these respective parts in the horse's foot,
since we have already done this in describing them, and every where
purposely omitting the term heels, in order to avoid its embarrassment,

and to show its perfect uselessness. It appears to be almost necessary
before any reform or great changes can be carried into effect in any
art, to expose and remove as much as may be the ignorant language,
and cant phraseology which supports it.

Some remarks on the foetal foot, and colt's foot, at birth,
and the half-grown foot.

It is somewhat singular, and worthy of observation, that these
parts which form so considerable a share of the foot of the full-grown
horse, have scarcely an existence in the young foal, their rudiments
or germs only are seen at this period of his life ; for the wall of the
hoof is then lapped about the coffin bone in such a manner as nearly
to meet at the back of the foot, and is of a form more obviously cy-
lindrical than in the adult foot, and proportionally longer; and what
is remarkable, the upper parts of the hoof at the coronet are larger
than the base or bottom of the foot: see the annexed figures, pi. v.
fig. 1 & 2.

The first-formed horn, whilst the foot is in the womb, is yellow,
and appears almost gelatinous, as at b, fig. 1. The upper part, how-
ever, and half way down, is already succeeded by black horn, a a,
and c is a sunken or impressed division between them. But what is
most remarkable, and hitherto unobserved, we believe, is, that the
bulbs of the frog, e, are extended into two oblong members forming
ligulce, or straps, which pass over the angle of the inflexions, and
extend along the sole to a considerable distance, and are terminated
by regular points, or rounded extremities : these are soon worn away,
leaving the ragged fringes of the bulbs as seen in the adult hoof,
and which imperfection is explicable without this curious fact being
known. At this period, the filaments of which the horn of the wall
is composed are separable by maceration; and I think it probable,
that in the first months of gestation, the wall is formed of three

distinct pieces, the two inflexions having a separate existence; but
before the time of birth they appear to be firmly united, and in the
adult hoof, form one perfectly inseparable mass.

The frog has in reality no existence in this foetal foot, but its point
is represented by a singular oblong claviform piece of horn lying be-
tween, and defended by the straps of the bulbs. The margins of the wall
are seen perfectly well defined inside and out, and its point or pince
is contracted, and pointed like the beak of a bird. The sole is only
a little thicker than a very stout ordinary membrane. At birth, or
soon after, the frog makes the appearance of a lax membrane lying
between the inflexions, as it is represented in fig. 2, where it is perhaps
a little forced out by the drying of the foot in the preparation; and
this germ of the frog gradually extends itself like the unfolding of
the rose-bud, and furnishes till it attains its full dimensions,�and its
full figure is not accomplished till about the fifth year, or later, as
the other parts of the body also do not in a general way acquire their
full dimensions and strength till about the eighth year.

As his size and weight increases, these parts we are describing, to-
gether with the frog, are brought more to the ground; and these
germs, or rudiments of the foot of the foal, are, by the pressure and
the growth, slowly unfolded. Nor, may we observe, do their feet ever
obtain their entire growth, if restraint of any sort has been used
during this period.

And it is also remarkable, that in the young foal, the front of the
foot singly performs all its offices; with his limbs held almost straight
and erect, and his fetlocks very little bent by the weight, he accom-
panies his dam, his toes, as it were, digging at every step into the
ground. His body at this period is singularly small and light, whilst
his limbs are extraordinarily developed, in a disproportionate degree
to his body; and he performs his merry gambols, dancing round her
with a suppleness and grace that reminds one of some spright or serial
being, nor is he at all suspicious of the whips and thongs and iron
measures that are so soon to be his portion.

Of the half-grown foot. In tracing the progress of the horse's
foot to its maturity, we have to notice the half-grown foot, the figure
of one at two years and a half old, taken from my waxy colt, one of
Lord Heathfield's stock, sold after his lordship's decease, and admi-
rably sketched by my friend Sydenham Edwards, is seen in plate 6.
The general ragged appearance of all parts is first noticeable, and
especially a singular formation or disposition of the inflexions, which
are spreading over the tenderer parts of the sole, as though to protect
it, and deaden sensation. This foot was a little inclined to flatness,
which rendered this aid, perhaps, the more necessary. I never re-
member, however, to have seen it in any other foot so strongly marked,
though with feet of this order it may not be, perhaps, an unfrequent
circumstance : a is the inside quarter, and b the outer quarter, or
side.

The unfinished form, and irregular make of the frog, and especially
of the frog-stay, is particularly noticeable in this young foot, for the
frog-stay is the last part formed, and is completed at very different
periods in different subjects, and requiring often our address and at-
tention to ward off a running frush, which may create a tenderness
for life, and in weak feet requires real skill and assiduity to prevent
it: see our Treatise on the cause and cure of Frush, 1821.

The fore shortening of the inflexions in this foot is made out very
distinctly, and the difference of the two inflexions, or rather modes
of their inflexion, are very conspicuous, and the two bulbs are also
dissimilar in size, the inner one being sensibly the largest.

The wall has a conspicuous dark line in the middle of its thickness,
which seems to indicate a division into the two tables we formerly
mentioned in its description. The cushion of the frog has not as yet
any visible existence.

Often at this early age, and even earlier than this, without being
aware of its consequences, perhaps, is the foot of this ill-fated animal
bound round with a wretched bar of iron, called a shoe, producing
the most deplorable effects, not only arresting the proper growth and

unfolding of the parts, but occasioning also a diminution from its
present state; and some Welsh-bred horses in particular I have seen,
at four years old, perfectly ruined in their feet, through greediness
to have their utmost labour, and ignorance of its effects, often ironing
their horses at one year old, and making them to slave with coals,
wood, &c.

We now conclude our description of the horse's hoof with observ-
ing, that in respect to the ass and the mule, the same general prin-
ciples of construction also pervade their feet; the form, however, and
the proportions of their respective parts widely differ, of which we
shall take a very cursory view.

The ass's foot to the eye of the spectator, viewing it on the ground,
appears of an oblong figure, and very flat-sided, no way like the
more noble hoof of the horse; and if we turn it sole upwards, it
presents an oval, whose broad end is the pince, and whose narrower
termination posteriorly is of a somewhat square form, with the furch
pushed out beyond the inflexions, and with the bulbs forming not
two rounded, but two pear-shaped masses, the narrow ends of which
pass off to form the furch-band. It is also to be remarked in these
asses' feet, that the thin posterior sharp edges of the inflexions are in
them much more blunt and rounded, and which, by the obliquity of
the bearing of the hoof on the ground, are brought to some extent
in contact with it, for the hoof itself appears to be more inclining to
the horizon than the horse's, so as to give an angle of 45 instead of
33 degrees in its slope in front, which, we may remark, will occasion
a less rapid detrition of the pince; this, together with the wall of
the hoof being disproportionately thick in its front parts, must have
particularly strengthened it for wear, and have suited his labours for
the early ages of the world before shoes or defences of any kind
were known. About opposite to the nodes of inflection, there is In
the wall a very perceptible and singular indentation or constriction of
the horn externally, after which it again somewhat dilates to give
room to the body of the furch. The horn of the ass's foot appears

100

of a more sordid description than the horse's, and the wall is very
often ribbed and wrinkled, making altogether a meaner appearance in
conformity with the animal himself when compared with his more
noble relative. The cruelties still inflicted on this inoffensive animal,
in return for his useful services, are most revolting, and custom has
too much reconciled them to us properly to feel their enormity; and
carried to such lengths are they often, that they answer no purpose
by losing all effect.

The Zebra, the Quagga, and the Cape horses, have feet between
the horse and the ass : in these the foot posteriorly makes a sort of
irregular square ; and the two inflections cross the foot to a sudden
concurrence, which very much shortens the furcaceous parts, and
lengthens the front or entire part of the sole�the bones and interior
matters of their feet are very much simplified and diminished when
compared with those of the horse, nor are the elastic parts nearly so
much developed, nature not requiring in these inferior animals those
parts which were indispensable to the perfect accomplishment of the
grandeur of form and graceful action of his nobler fellow slave. And
we are led to anticipate with joyful feelings the days, perhaps not
distant, when he shall be well understood, and his proper uses be
called forth, and when he shall be an object of delight and profit to
all, instead of the ignorance, violence, and cruelty, which at present
prevail in his use, and often with such unfeeling extortion, that they
defeat their own purposes by his perpetual destruction; so that
though really coining for them an immensity of money, the general
account is a loss. I have watched the end of the most extensive
post-masters, and have observed with nearly all of them, that though
they pursued the most reprehensibly-cruel measures to obtain their
utmost work, they in the end were impoverished and bankrupted I
could name a half score of these who had, when they began, been
deemed rich men. The Almighty seems indeed so to have ordained
and framed it, that he who shall offend against nature, it shall not be
to his advantage. The slave trade can also exhibit a very similar

101

account, but its enormities, bad as they are, are as nothing to the
ironings, bittings, gaggings, strappings, and scourgings of these most
inoffensive and worthy creatures.

DIV. 2.�OF THE ATTACHING PARTS.

After a Foot has been macerated a few days in water, it may be
drawn forth from the hoof, and we are then presented with a view of
the interior foot, some of whose surfaces are chiefly for attachment,

others for attachment, but chiefly secretion. I first describe------

The Cutidura* the uppermost of these, which is prominent and round-
ed, being in reality a prolongation or extension of the skin indurated
and enlarged, in order to fill the cutigeral concavity of the hoof. This
part has hitherto been strangely taken for a ligament, though without
possessing a single trait of this description of parts, but is itself ac-
tually held in its position by other ties or attachments, such as the
perioplic band and keraphylla, aided by the hollow cavity in the top
of the hoof, and the numerous vessels which enter it.

The cutidura appears intended for conveying into the coronary con-
cave of the hoof the organ for the immediate secretion of the wall;
and we find it, in fact, composed of two very different parts or struc-
tures, the innermost of these being a dense white cartilaginous
cushion, and which acts as a bolster in supporting the membrane
above it: this cartilaginous part is but little vascular in itself, but is
much perforated for the admission of blood-vessels through it, which
on emerging, suddenly radiate into the membrane above. This super-
imposed membrane is red and highly vascular, and in thickness ap-
pears to be about the sixteenth of an inch; it is rough on its exterior
surface, which fits it to the concave ring of the wall, of which it is

* From Cutis, skin, and dura, hard.

102

doubtless the immediate secreting organ. From this membrane, or
perhaps passing through it, arise the long filamentous vessels which
enter the hoof for maintaining its succulence, and for the purposes of
transpiration.

We have also, we think, observed that this red membrane does not
appear to terminate with the cutidura, but has a continued course
downwards, and is reflected over every leaf of the Podophylla, and
advancing further, becomes likewise the genetrix, and secreting organ
of the horny sole. We suppose it to be formed of the superficial
part of the skin, that is, that part which is exposed when the cuticle
is removed ,� and by being rendered extremely vascular, it becomes
fitted for its very important office. And the cartilaginous portion of
the cutidura, which we have described above, is perhaps merely a
continuation of the inner, harder, and more cartilaginous part of the
skin; and the reticulum again is formed of the interior of the skin,
or of the cellular membrane lining it. And if such be the case, the
whole arrangement is a remarkable example of the simplicity and
ceconomy of the provisions of nature, in giving at pleasure to simple
parts new structure, new offices, and new powers, which cannot but
obtain our high admiration, as the providing for wants so important
by means so simple; for what appears to be most singular is, that the
same parts or materials as are found in this wonderful structure of
the foot, actually exist in the parts above the hoof, that there is no
new creation, as we have just seen, and to which may be added that
of the frog-band and the hoof�the one is but a vast amplification of
the cuticle, and the other an extraordinary amassment of the hair.

In the upper part of the cutidura is seen the remarkable groove,
or notch, so inviting to the knives of former anatomists. And in
order to understand fully the intentions and uses of this part, we
must again advert to the furch-band, and we believe it is for the first
time it has ever been so treated of. If we examine with care and
attention the upper margin of this band in a dried specimen, we shall
probably discover a double edge, or two distinct terminations of it,

103

with a small channel between them: this appearance we had often
noticed, but could not at all render any account of till lately. In
fact the lowermost, or innermost of these terminating edges, which
is also the thickest, actually occupies the above channel or notch in
the cutidura, and is firmly held there. Now from this strong point
of its attachment, or insertion, it sends off a slip or process of soft
horn, which is reflected over the skin above, and which becoming
thinner as it advances, soon terminates in meeting the cuticle, and
making common surface with it. This slip, or little process of soft
horn, is not more than about the eighth of an inch in width, and in
drying after removal, very much contracts, and the two edges curling
towards each other internally, give the above-described appearance of
a channel between the two edges. An inverted comma of the
printer's would afford not a very indifferent representation of this
small part, seen in section, the thicker part of the comma representing
the horn which is lodged in the notch, and the finer tail of the
comma the reflected portion upon the skin. Now this reflected slip,
when fresh, may be about, or perhaps rather more than the eighth of
an inch in width, and its breadth determines the actual thickness of
the band. This slip adheres very strongly to the skin in the recent
hoof, and requires considerable force to detach it. It seems, after
this description, almost superfluous to add, that the concave side of
the comma is affixed to the skin, and the convex side to the horn of
the band. The cutidure becomes flatter and wider as it passes pos-
teriorly, and is finally lost in mixing with the dense membranes of
the sole, and those which form the horny inflexions.

Of the Podophytta. The extensive sloping surface below the
above part is presenting an almost innumerable assemblage of flaccid
foliations or leaves, or processes, which serve to hold the hoof to the
foot. They correspond in number to the foliations of the kera-
phylla, between which they are inserted; they are very limber, and
easily fall together on their separation from them, and by their ap-
pearance and feel, and the smell they emit when burnt, are probably

104

of a cartilaginous nature, which is also confirmed in that they are
sometimes found, from restraints of the foot by shoeing, to be ossified.
That they are really cartilaginous, we have also proved in another
way; for if we expose them to the heat of boiling water, they are
reduced to a thin gelatinous mass, losing entirely their figure, and
even the heat of a dunghill is sufficient for this, whilst the keraphylla
do not at all alter their form by this proceeding. And I have seen
in canker cases, on dissection after death, that where the podophylla
had been destroyed, a smooth plate of cartilage supplied their place,
which to me at that time was quite incomprehensible. They clearly
appear to me to be a continuation, or production of the cartilaginous
part of the cutidura; and I am also of opinion, that they are enve-
loped on every side by a continuation of the red portion of the cuti-
dura, which gives them the rounded edges and smooth vascular ap-
pearance they possess, and which seems to be confirmed by the cir-
cumstance that horn is readily produced in all parts of the foot below
the cutidura, in cases of accidental injury, or of exposure of these
parts. They probably secrete the keraphylla, and are not placed on
the periosteum, or bone, but on a thick membrane, or reticulum, here-
after to be described; they extend also upon the surface of the car-
tilages.

Of the Membranous, and secreting Sole. A dense web, and from its
similar vascularity probably allied to the reticulum above mentioned,
supports, or conveys, the immediate secreting organ to the upper
surface of the horny sole; its vessels are highly beautiful when in-
jected, and appear reticulated in squares and areas of almost all figures;
and by their fluid contents can yield to all impressions without any arrest-
ation of the blood's circulation. Round its circumference runs a vein
and artery, which are sometimes opened in inflammation of the feet
with good effect. The horn should be extensively thinned to prevent
irritation, and the air and wet be carefully excluded by mild dressings
of softened rosin applied on tow till healed. The immediate organ of
secreting the sole is probably, as we have already stated, a continu-
ation or extension of the above red cutidural membrane.

105

Of the Internal Furch, or Frog. Having described the Cutidura,
the Podophylla, and the Vascular Sole, we proceed to a description
of the internal frog, as it is seen making common surface with the
above parts. Intending to expose its remarkable internal arrange-
ment and construction, which was not known till we detected it about
twenty years ago, the most erroneous notions having prevailed before
respecting it.

We have formerly had to remark that the horse's furch, or frog,
was allied in many circumstances to the pads of some of the other
tribes of quadrupeds, and also, that although composed very much of
the same general materials, they were more extraordinarily and ela-
borately combined than in those simple cushions, and of which we
shall now endeavour to convey some notion.

The horn of the furch, already described, is of necessity lined
immediately within by the membrane which secretes it, and which
membrane, we are disposed to conjecture, is an extenuated production
of the red cutidural investing membrane we have formerly noticed, and
which we are led to believe is the universal genetrix of horn through-
out the foot, which view will much simplify and facilitate our com-
prehension of its mechanism, and of the general arrangement of its
parts.

We must, however, correct this familiar generalization, by stating a
material circumstance as yet unobserved in the structure of this im-
portant part of the foot, which will not fail to render our notions of
this matter more just and clear, and without which it would be im-
possible to entertain; it is this�That if we view the whole entire
surface of the cutidura in all its extent, we shall see that it will be
necessary to divide it into two distinct parts or regions, according as
it is situated above or below the fossa, or notch, in which the secre-
tory lower edge of the frog-band is inserted, as we formerly de-
scribed, since this supra fossal portion is alone giving off, or secreting,
this band, and the other, or infrafossal portion, which is vastly
more extensive, is alone giving off, or secreting, the wall of the hoof;

106

this latter, for distinction, we propose to call the Onuchal region ;
the former, The Perioplic region of the Cutidura.

Now, since it is the superior of these, or perioplic region of the
Cutidura, which alone gives off, and secretes the furch-band, and
which secretory surface being continued on to the bulbs, becomes
wider in extent and enlarged, in order to supply the greater demand
of horn there, and next continuing its course to the base of the
furch, it secretes this also, and then indeed the whole of the horn of
the frog. And which division is necessary, since this horn is essen-
tially in its nature different from the horn of the wall, or that of the
sole, and is appointed the peculiar production of this region, of which
the whole secretory surface of the frog is part.

Having thus far premised, we next observe it is the secreting mem-
brane of this supra-fossal region that lines immediately the horn of
the furch: though of so delicate and fine a texture is it, and of such
extreme tenuity, that its existence is rather to be inferred from the
necessity of it, than as becoming an object of sight: but such is the
case with many important membranes of the body; even the cuticle
itself would be hardly an object of the dissector's regard, though
brought into such conspicuous evidence by the application of a
blister to the skin.

Within this secretory membrane is a square capsule of ligament, as
I first apprehended, but believe it on further search, more posteriorly,
rather of a soft elastic cartilage; it is well defined outwardly�its
inside rough and irregular; narrowing a little downwards, and present-
ing three sides of a square, filling the two sides and bottom of the
horn of the furch. Upwards this capsule is open, its sides mount-
ing over the ridge of the union of the frog and bar, and it then can
be traced along the sole, and is found terminating in mixing with the
granular cartilage surrounding the extremities of the coffin bone; it
cuts smooth, and dries transparent, whereas the elastic ligaments
within its inclosure are nearly opaque and rough in their exterior
when dried. Within this capsule are observable transverse layers of

107

tendon or ligament, which also are somewhat inclining to cartilage
posteriorly; the lowermost appear to be attached to the sides of
the capsule; the uppermost seem to pass above it, mingling with the
general ligamentous stuffing above; and about the middle of the frog
or its cushion the layers are about six or seven in number.

Between these horizontal plates of tendon or ligament, which are
very lax and arching upwards, (but immediately become tense if any
pressure is exerted on the horn,) is lodged a soft, flaccid, glossy mem-
brane, strongly adhering to the surfaces of these plates, and if
dragged by the forceps, immediately discloses its membranous and
tangible nature, and appears to be held by numberless threads or
small vessels to these plates. This elastic matter is of a white colour,
or of a reddish white in the recent foot, but in process of time, or
by disease, it assumes a yellowish colour, which has occasioned it to
be strangely mistaken by Professor Coleman for yellow oil, and these
transverse tendons for bags, and which said bags, and their oil, have
been supposed the agents of the most extraordinary offices, such
as forcing the side cartilages of the foot, &c. &c.�See Coleman,
Vol. 2, p. 123.

This lax material, lodged between these plates, seems to be
nothing more than a simple membrane, and from its laxity capable
of great extension, which its situation, and the impulses of the
foot against the ground, must often call into strong action to secure
the capsule; and its office is also that of deadening feeling and sen-
sation, and of protecting the important parts immediately situated
above, such as the joint of the foot itself, and the tendons going for
insertion into the coffin bone, and which are passing under the shuttle
bone. If we make a perpendicular section of the furch about its
middle, these membranes will be seen protruding from between these
transverse tendons, especially on pressure, and receding again on its
removal.

Now this capsule, with its transverse layers of ligament, give the
fundamental plan of structure of this singular part, and these con-

108

strated layers, as they pass anteriorly, approach each other, and near
the point of the frog coalesce in forming one very stout, strong
tendon, which is affixed to the posterior semi-lunar excavation of the
coffin bone about its middle, holding the furch firmly to this situation.
Passing backwards, these transverse tendons appear to become diffuse
and more numerous, and thin and flaccid, and finally are lost in the
elastic stuffing which fills the central and posterior parts of the foot,
and which is hereafter to be more fully considered.

The above most singular apparatus seems admirably designed to
break and diminish the force of any sudden shock or percussion on
this tender and very exposed part, and this important office appears
to be performed by each of these layers in succession receiving the
impulse of the stroke, and transmitting it with a continually dimi-
nished effect to the next above; so that before its arrival at the parts
protected, it will be rendered so weak and powerless as to be inca-
pable of doing mischief, or even, perhaps, of conveying much un-
pleasant impression. This singular apparatus therefore may be safely
regarded as contributing to strengthen this weakest part of the foot,
and of confirming the force of his step, and as being one among the
many provisions which belong to this highly-endowed animal for the
augmenting his utility and powers of serving us.

In concluding we may also add, that we think it not improbable
that the ligamentous, or rather, semi-cartilaginous parts of the inter-
nal structure of the furch, may be derived from an extension of the
hardened part, or ligamentous substratum of the cutidura, although
so remotely placed, as to be with difficulty traced to it.

On making a perpendicular section of the furch about its middle,
we may observe its capsule is surrounded to some distance, as rather
more than to the extent of the eighth of an inch, by a white, opaque,
and soft horn; which opacity and whiteness of the horn is found to
arise from the vessels that are entering it, and which may be easily
drawn out, and they then appear to be of a conical figure. The
moisture thus contributed is the cause of this opacity, and as it

109

advances forward, and becomes more dry, it assumes the dark trans-
parent colour that we see the horn of the frog to have. And we are
led to doubt if this opaque white frame of horn may not perhaps
define the limit of those deep exfoliations of the frog we have for-
merly noticed, and which may extend to the point of these vessels.
The succulence of the horn beyond these vessels is maintained, per-
haps, by a species of mechanical absorption of the fluids given out by
these vessels, as also from its exposure to the moisture of the ground.

Having now described the various parts forming the surfaces
which are exposed when the hoof has been removed, we shall proceed
to consider the parts which are found immediately beneath these,
and which, for the sake of rendering this demonstration of the foot as
clear as possible, we think it best to form into a separate order from
the attaching parts, and to call them our third division, making the
bones the fourth, instead of the third, as we originally proposed; and
this arrangement, we believe, will be useful in affording us a greater
clearness of view of the several classes of parts the machinery of the
foot receives, and the order of their succession in forming it. This
new order will consist chiefly of the Reticulum, the Cartilages, and
the elastic resilient Stuffing, which every where fills up the frame of
the posterior parts of the foot, and which order we designate for dis-
tinction The sub-attaching parts.

BIV. III.�SUB-ATTACHING PARTS.

■Of the Reticulum processigerum. The podophylla are not, as has
been asserted, really placed on the bone of the foot, but are planted
upon a highly-elastic web, or thickened membrane, we have called by
the above name; it is found in greatest substance or depth in the

110

front parts of the foot, and being of considerable thickness, receives
within it an infinity of large blood-vessels, chiefly veins, which, anas-
tomosing and running through it in all directions, give to it a singular
beauty and rich appearance when injected with coloured wax. And the
fluids contained in these vessels, by readily yielding to all impressions
conveyed by the hoof, will contribute as a sort of cushion to soften
these effects, and which is not at all unnecessary in the sometimes in-
credibly-long protracted journies they are made to perform; they will
also tend to preserve the foot from the inflammation which might other-
wise attend such unreasonable labours, doing perhaps within the hoof, in
some degree, the offices that are done without by the pads and stuffings
of the camel's feet, into which their feet sink down. This vast con-
geries of vessels will act also as a reservoir for the blood, which must
be determined in great abundance to the feet on these occasions, and
also serve to equalize the pressure, keep the parts moist, and prevent
any sudden heatings or chillings from exposure, or any arrestation of the
free circulation of the blood from unequal bearing or pressure of the
foot, by their frequent anastomosings. The extraordinary extent, elas-
ticity, and thickness of substance, will occasion it also to contribute
almost, or quite as much, to the motions of the bone in the hoof as
do the keraphylla, or indeed more, those being designed chiefly for
strength of attachment. I need hardly add, that I have called it
Reticulum, from its being formed of a net-work of fibres, and pro-
cessigerum, from processus, and gero, bearing or carrying the processes;
for parts without a name are almost as parts without an existence.
This elastic web, on meeting the lateral cartilages, passes over their
surface, adhering strongly to their lower parts, and so situated, is
conferring a still more extensive power of elastic yielding to these
parts. And it is not clear to me whether this Reticulum is an immense
amplification and extension of the periosteum, or a production simply
of the cellular membrane, but believe the latter.

Ill

Of the great Podal Cartilages. These cartilages of the foot being of
a very different character to cartilages in general, ought to be dis-
tinctly classed, but we fail in a proper name for distinguishing them ;
however, in some degree we do so, by calling them the podal carti-
lages, as contra-distinguished from articular and other cartilages.

Not unaware, from former experience of the difficulty attending
the description and the understanding of these cartilages, from their
various structure, and their commixed and diffusive nature, so am I
led, in making this attempt, to give along with their description the
manner and process I have pursued in investigating them, that others
may be enabled to arrive at the same view of them, or correct any
errors I may inadvertently have fallen into respecting them, if such
should be the case.

For this investigation I do not recommend the usual practice of
macerating the foot in order to disengage it from the hoof, which
would damage and discolour many of the more delicate parts con-
nected with these cartilages ; but after having procured a fresh foot,
to proceed with it in the following manner :�first to use a drawing
knife to detach the sole from its union with the wall�then to employ
a fine saw, making several longitudinal cuts quite through the wall,
drawing the detached pieces off upwards by a pair of pincers, and
thus removed from the sides of the foot a pretty extensive portion
of the hoof: we then dissect off the skin, and afterwards the web
and the cutidura.*

The cartilages now present themselves in a denuded state, occupy-
ing a considerable extent along both sides of the foot; outwardly
they are of a tolerably smooth and uniform surface, convex and

* I shall not conceal it, however, that I often use a more summary process still to rid
the hoof; and for this purpose make deep diagonal cuts with a saw through the lower
parts of the hoof, so deep as to expose the red edges of the vascular sole, removing both
sole and wall to some distance, securing the foot in a square box nailed to the work-
bench or table; next by longitudinal cuts into the wall with a flat wrench of iron, I easily
remove the pieces; if it be a cart-horse especially, where the parts are seen on a large
scale, the process is vastly facilitated.

112

curving to the figure of the foot, of which, indeed, at the posterior
parts they confer the principal figure; in their middle they are some-
what hunched, or gibbous, opposite to the ends of the shuttle bone,
and condyles of the coronet bone; and in their lower parts are much
perforated with blood-vessels, especially posteriorly.

Their general figure may be compared to that of a fan pretty fully
expanded, and fixed by its centre, which is also much thicker, as well
as by one limb at its lower edge, and in part only, firmly to the side of
the coffin bone, posteriorly and near to its top, securely lodged in a
wide, oblong, and tolerably deep cavity provided for its reception.

The upper region of this cartilage rises boldly above the hoof, and
may be distinguished from the other parts of it by the term Coronary
Process; it is beautifully incurvated, and reflected over the softer
internal parts of the foot, affording a roofing and defence to them, and
also a noble outline to these parts. It terminates by a thinner
rounded edge, often deeply toothed, and notched or scolloped. If
cut into, its substance appears to be firm, smooth, and delicately
white.

In order to investigate the structure of the cartilage lower down,
or near to its central region, and to obtain a view of its interior ap-
pearance, we make an incision with a knife through its whole length,
and one or two crucial incisions, traversing the former at right angles,
we then are enabled, with a little dissection, to loosen its attachments,
and to reverse the position of these pieces, and detach them wholly,
or in part from their adherence ; and we discover the interior surface
to be very different from the outer, being of a softer, more spongy
and elastic nature, and with more redness and colour, and extremely
knotty and irregular ; and within it, an abundant distribution of
large blood-vessels, chiefly veins, every where lining this inside ; and
if we were to conjecture their probable use, we should say that we
believed them intended, to assist in keeping up the temperature, and
consequently the life and elastic actions of this part, itself nearly des-
titute of blood, and for maintaining it against the effects of injurious
exposure, whether of excessive heat or cold.

113

I may further observe of this remarkable plexus of blood-vessels
and cavity that is found behind the cartilage, and which appears
conspicuous enough in a vertical section of the foot transversely
made across the quarters, is of an oblong shape, and has not before
received much attention; and I have been led to consider it as a kind
of reservoir for receiving the blood that may be pumped up during
any strong or rapid exertions of the animal, from the effects of the
motions in the hoof of the bones of the foot, which, accumulating
in these large vessels, contained in a spacious cavity, is thus pre-
vented from creating derangement to the general current of the cir-
culation, or causing, by its impetuous course, any sudden rupture of
the finer vessels of the foot.

I have subsequently found, or imagined at least, that the above-
described cavities behind the cartilage were not exactly alike on
both sides of the foot, and that the inner one was rather larger than
the outer, and the course of it not so straight. These cavities are
loosely filled with cellular membrane, retaining the vessels in their
place, which the saw often entirely removes, and leaves it a perfect
void: the passage downwards from these cavities is very straight, and
terminates at last upon the inside of the extremity of the coffin bone
exactly within the scutiform process. If we desire to lay this part
open at once with the saw to obtain a view of it, it is only necessary
to place the instrument about the middle of the cartilage, at its most
protuberating point laterally, and then sloping it to the axis of the
hoof, we shall either plunge directly into, or so near it, as to obtain
a sufficiently-favourable view. This cavity may be called the infun-
dibalum, being a sort of funnel, and its straight pipe may be termed
the Canalis vasiferus.

Some blood-vessels are also seen streaming down on the outside of
the cartilage, coming from the interior, and probably assist in main-
taining the same vivifying influence and warmth on the outside that
we have ascribed to those on the opposite side.

114

The inside cartilage, we have thought, was often larger and
thicker, and more protuberant than the outer, and that it was more
deeply secured in the bone. Whether this may have any reference
to the blood-vessels of this side, or to the opposite foot, in lessening
the danger of its being disturbed by a casual blow from it, I shall
not presume to determine.

It appears now to be necessary previously to entering into further
details respecting the cartilages, to advert to the coffin bone which
supports it, and which the reader, as they are easily to be procured,
will do well to consult, obtaining one of mature age and well marked:
in the subjoined plate, however, No. 6, there is also a view of it.

We shall see in examining it that the excavation for the insertion
of the cartilage is near the summit of the bone, and posteriorly both
wide and deep, that it grows much narrower as it advances forwards,
becoming a thin channel only, losing itself on the front eminence of
the bone. This channel, however, is not confined solely to retaining
the cartilage, since it receives a strong ligament from the coronet
bone, anteriorly to the cartilage, and the channel on the eminence
itself in front is occupied by the expanding termination of the
tendon of the extensor of the foot.

Immediately behind this cavity, or posteriorly to it, there suddenly
rises up from the bone a remarkable flat square plate of bone, often,
however, especially in the young bone, rounded on the top, which is
always grooved, in order evidently for the greater security of the
cartilage. To distinguish this prominent feature, we shall call it
The scutiform process; it is powerfully supporting the cartilage
from any dislodgment, being opposed to the deep hollow cavity
immediately before it; and it is singular also that it should be placed
nearly in the middle or central point of the whole cartilage: it is
also worthy of attention that it is found to be the very point of com-
mencement of the ossification of the cartilage in all the specimens
of ring-bone that we possess, which appear, indeed, to be but as the

115

continuation or extension of this very process.�Being placed near
the waning extremities of the coffin bone, it must afford to them
a remarkable support; and it is also found to be immediately opposed
to the two pointed extremities of the shuttle-bone, strengthening the
articulation at this important part, all of which circumstances render
it necessary that it should be distinguished by a proper name as one
of the most notable parts of this bone. We now again revert to the
cartilage.

It is by no means an easy matter to sub-divide an irregular convex
mass, like the cartilage, into intelligible divisional boundaries for de-
scription ; and after viewing it in many ways, we propose only to use
the terms coronary, or super-onuchal process, and inferior, or infra-
onuchal process, according as they are situated above or below the
surface of the hoof; adding to these the anterior and posterior
limbs, which are partaking of both situations, and to which must be
added also the interior or stratiform process.

Of the Anterior Process. This limb in passing forwards, is firmly
attached by its lower edge to the coffin bone, in the groove we have
indicated; but when advanced to a certain distance in the front, it com-
bines intimately with the ligament which holds the coronet bone to the
coffin bone, and they are both inserted together in the same groove;
their union is by oblique lateral surfaces, and is of the most intimate
kind, so much so, that an inadvertent dissector might easily view them
as one body. They then meet the great extensor tendon of the leg,
and are connected loosely with it by cellular membrane, so as to be
easily separable, and with which they make one common general
surface. This anterior extremity of the cartilage takes a very
strong adherence by its inner surface to the condyle of the coronet
bone laterally, and anterior to the above ligament. And this portion
of the cartilage also closely surrounds the coffin joint, that the articu-
lation appears to be without any proper capsular ligament at this

116

part. In some feet, however, we apprehend we have seen it suffi-
ciently conspicuous,�whether this is depending on the degree of
violence with which the animal has been used, I know not, as its
relaxation, it would be natural to suppose, will very much depend
upon this. In operations, however, we may observe, it should be a
primary object to preserve it untouched.

If we cut into the substance of this front portion of the cartilage,
we find it firm, solid, and very white; but its inside surface, or
surface exposed to the joint, is more spongy, and often reddened with
blood. And this anterior limb, we may remark, is very rarely ossified
in case of ring-bones, which invade nearly all the superior and pos-
terior parts of the cartilage without difficulty,

Having removed with the knife the superior part, or coronary pro-
cess of the cartilage, we, by detaching successive slices with the
scalpel, come to parts containing tubuli, or pipes, which appear to
rise up within the solid matter of the cartilage; and lower down,
these are succeeded by denticulations and breaks often, with dove-
tail points, and sinuous, irregular, cavities, breaking into the inner edge
of the cartilage, and containing a red membrane. These membranes
are doubtless blood-vessels,�veins, chiefly,�which are perhaps
aiding, as we have supposed, in supplying the vital warmth we have
described, and also in opposing the effects of an intemperate expo-
sure, the cartilages being otherwise in themselves almost inanimate
parts, and destitute of nerves or blood-vessels. And these numerous
breaks and interruptions in the substance of the cartilage, will, we
apprehend, essentially contribute to maintain their elasticity, and
oppose the process of ossification also, to which, unfortunately, these
parts are but too frequently liable.

Towards the extremity of the foot, this cartilage exhibits a stellated
or radiated appearance and contexture, the rays or circles of which
converging to a central point, do not entirely meet there to fill it, but
leave a small opening through which a blood-vessel is seen to pass ;

117

and generally these vessels have an horizontal direction given them.
It is doubtful with me, whether from this termination of the cartilage
in the extremities of the coffin bone, a thin stratum may not be sent
off to the assistance of the posterior membranes of the sole and frog;
dissection, however, does not seem to demonstrate any such, though
a vertical section of these parts being dried and varnished, exhibits
more transparency in them than is usual in mere membranes and
ligamentary parts.

We have also observed that, by making a section with the saw
vertically between the furch and the bar, or in the commissures of
the foot, we can, by afterwards removing the bar and sole, get an ex-
cellent view of the concave inside surface of the upright cartilage,
and which is exhibiting a triple row of openings, or lacunce, for
blood-vessels, which pass into, and also through this cartilage; and
these openings have small remarkable partitions of cartilage disposed
between them.

On reducing the cartilage farther, we arrive at a portion of greater
thickness, and which appears also to be passing inwards, and is of a
more irregular texture and darker colour often: to distinguish this
internal part from the upright portion, we have called it

The internal cartilage, or stratiform process, which has baffled us
completely for a long time in rendering any satisfactory account of
or obtaining any notion of its extent and connexions; it appears,
however, to be not merely a general supplementary intermedium for
filling up vacant parts not occupied by the machinery of the foot, but
is lending its useful aid in sustaining some of these parts.

After many an unsuccessful attempt to unravel its real extent and
figure, in which I hardly ever arrived twice at the same conclusions,
I found that the readiest way of getting a fair view of it, was by
means of a saw, which should be passed through the hoof in an hori-
zontal direction, and in a line parallel with its upper edge, and at
the distance from it of about half, or three quarters of an inch only:
this proceeding, I found, exposed it through the middle of its most

118

extensive distribution inwards, and informed us that it was passing
interiorly as far as the ridge formed by the union of the sole with
the bar, or inflexion.

This internal cartilage is of a coarser grain and looser texture
than the upright portion, and softer and more yielding; it cuts, how-
ever, in many parts with sufficient crispness, like cartilages in general;
its very interior part is, however, more broken and interrupted, and
often browner, as though of a coriaceous, or leathery consistence, or,
as partaking of the nature of cartilage mixed with ligament.

This interiorly projected process is replete with sinuous fissures
and openings, where it unites with, or proceeds from, the inside of
the lateral cartilage; but more especially these openings are found
most numerous at its posterior parts, and will obviously serve to
render it more pliant and yielding to all the movements of the hoof,
and particularly so in accompanying those of the more flexible sole
and frog.

After much time spent in investigating this obscure part, we find
that it is perfectly incorporated with, and proceeding from, the
upright process; and we at last found that its commencement was
nearly as high up as to be on a level with the brim, or upper fine
edge of the hoof, where it may be felt by the fingers, after we have
severed and removed the upper portion of the coronary process;
small, rough points, and elevated flexible ridges of cartilage, are then
perceptible on its upper surface, which bend to the touch of the
nail, and are hardly observable but by tact, being covered and ob-
scured by dense membranes.

It is not possible, however, to arrive at a knowledge of this intri-
cate part of the cartilage by these means; but we shall now proceed
to point out a perfectly new way of dissecting it, that will render it
perfectly clear, and afford us an effectual and satisfactory account of
it, which is by exposing it on both its surfaces at once.

To make this disclosure, we pass the knife in an horizontal direction
through the cartilage, close to the superior fine edge of the hoof,

119

carrying it to the bone, which we then saw half through: we meet
this cut by a vertical one, slitting the coronet bone longitudinally
down to the former cut, thus making a half section of the foot, divi-
ding all the soft parts with a sharp scalpel.

On removing the portion cut, a beautiful view presents itself in a
half longitudinal section of a part we cannot otherwise so well con-
template, and which at the present, for want of a better name, we
shall designate The Glairey Mass or plastic stuffing ; it is observable,
lodged between the skin and the tendons, of a pyramidal form, reach-
ing to near the summit of the coronet bone, upwards diminutive, but
enlarging downwards, and reposing by its base upon the globular mass
of elastic ligament, and so intimately attached to it, that it would easily
pass but for this view of it, and its very different texture, for one
body, and indeed the mass below, requires this along with it to con-
stitute the globular body we have described, making separately, or
alone, only an oblate or flattened globular figure.

This glairey substance is the most limber, soft, ductile, and
yielding of any animal substance that we are acquainted with, and in
its non-resistent qualities nearly approaching to that of a fluid.

We remove this, and also the oblate mass of elastic ligament together,
and we then obtain an excellent view without difficulty of the whole
upper surface of the stratiform process, which presents the figure of
a flattened concave or shallow bason, particularly well adapted to the
retention of the above ligamentous bodies.

We must now carefully proceed in removing all the hoof from the
bottom and sides of this posterior part of the foot in the way before
intimated�by sawing off diagonal slices of its lower parts, and we
remove also half of the horn of the frog. This will enable us con-
veniently to detach the membranes which line the hoof, and envelope
the cartilage on this side, and we then obtain a perfect view of the
cartilage on its inferior surface, and where it is found covering the
ridge of the commissure of the hoof, which is formed by a triple
union of the sole, the bar, and the frog. In passing upon this ridge,

120

the cartilage becomes so extremely thin that it does not much exceed
in thickness a half-crown piece, that is to say, in a blood horse's foot.
Having passed over this ridge, this process of the cartilage again
thickens, and enlarging every way, is rising upwards, and forming the
interior rim of the bason or concave we have just described; descend-
ing also below, and considerably enlarging in this direction, it occupies
the interior of the broad base of the frog; and also advancing for-
wards to its middle parts, it divides and interiorly separates into
coarse horizontal plates, having between them the elastic membrane,
forming the apparatus that we have formerly described with the frog,
and which apparatus is continued to within some short distance of
the point of the frog. These plates are placed in lines parallel to
the bearing surface of the hoof on the ground; they have, however,
a trifling elevation forwards, and sinking posteriorly, making a small
angle to the horizon. They are evidently forming a most useful sort
of defence to the important tendons placed over them, and which,
we may observe, are also farther secured from the disastrous conse-
quences of bruises from external violence by the moveable and un-
fixed condition of the shuttle bone, against which they would both
be impelled in these cases.

We can now readily discover, that the inferior surface of the
stratiform process, like the superior, is cupped also, but with its con-
cave presented in the opposite direction, and this inferior side or
surface is also in figure an oblong oval, and vastly deeper than that
on its superior surface; so that in reality this process of the cartilage
is in figure a double concave, the one circumscribing the ridge of the
commissure, and the other presenting a flat bason for the convenient
retention and lodgment of the globular body of the elastic stuffing.

And now, when all the difficulties on this subject have been re-
moved, on looking at them we are only surprised that they could
have detained us so long in embarrassment; for we believe these
elucidations will be found in no preceding writer, or scarcely even
allusion made in any way to such a part. And we hope also that the

121

gratification we have experienced in clearing up this arduous knot,
(for such it has been,) may extend to all who have an interest in, or
derive pleasure from, the services of these most worthy creatures.

For the greater convenience of considering and speaking of this
remarkable part, we had in a former edition applied the term Stra-
tiform process to it, as being placed in a parallel direction to the
stratus, street, or road, on which the horse was moving, in contra-
distinction also, to the upright or lateral process; which appellation
we believe we cannot do better than to retain.

Of the posterior limb of the Cartilage.�This extremity of the
cartilage sloping downwards rather suddenly, on arriving at the
extremity of the foot, is curving inwards to encircle it, and form the
frame of the cartilaginous bulbs, which we have so called to distin-
guish them from the horn bulbs which envelope these externally, and
which with nearly all the other parts at the back of the foot or leg,
have been at times vulgarly termed heels, evidently a phrase without
any meaning in our art, and not being of the least use is therefore
expunged.

These bulbs curving inwards are disposed of in the way we have
described, and interiorly become intimately interwoven with the
elastic stuffing, and along with them is carried in also a process of
the skin, deeply insinuated into the sinus, between the two bulbs,
and which is powerfully aiding from rupture these tender and exposed
parts of the foot. It is also especially to be remarked here, that this
process of the skin is forming a loop or doubling by being thus
carried inwards, and its two surfaces being cemented together, they
become, when from any cause they are opened and exposed, the true
cause and genuine seat of that disagreeable disorder called the
Running Frush.

122

Of the Uses of the Cartilages.

These extensive cartilages are made to serve many important pur-
poses in the business of the foot, some of the more leading of which
we shall here endeavour to expose. And in a foot having such ex-
traordinary demands upon it, it will be evident the resistance of a
solid unyielding body would have been quite inconvenient in the
sides and posterior parts of it at least, so that on this account they
occupy so very large a share of it as a substitute for bone, battening
out, and supplying the form of the foot in these parts to a con-
siderable extent: for the coffin bone, except by its extremities, does
not in reality extend much beyond the middle of the hoof; the rest
of its figure is almost wholly communicated by these cartilages,
strengthened and assisted by the hoof.

And the singularly-small appearance which the coffin bone makes,
when compared with the hoof it belonged to, is chiefly occasioned
by the extensive share of its upper parts, more especially, occupied
by these widely-distributed cartilages, the supplementary intermedia,
of the foot; and which are assuming in their course an extraor-
dinary variety of thickness and hardness according to the parts
they fill up, or offices they have to perform; and which become, if
held rigidly, and deprived of their natural motions, osseous, or
converted into bone, especially in their more solid parts, and then
have obtained the name of Ring-bones, that is, bones of the ring,
or superior circle of the hoof, the coronary process being more espe-
cially liable to this affection.

Both portions of the cartilage united, circumscribe the lateral and
posterior boundaries of the foot constituting a kind of elastic
general frame upon which it is highly probable the horn is first
receiving its form, and which also extends as this part extends with
age; the cartilage, also, we should apprehend, must grow and increase
with the developement of the frog, since this organ at birth is little
else than thin horn and membrane.

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It is forming also in the posterior parts of the foot, superiorly, a
sort of box or capsule, by the union of the transverse with the lateral
processes, supporting the elastic globular bodies and their coverings,
and which process thrust upwards is equalizing the general pressure
from the sole and weaker posterior parts of the foot. The cartilage
descending into the body of the furch performs the office of a core
or expanding mold on which the furch is furnishing and receives
with its increase its ultimate form, which view opens to us new and
more simple apprehensions of the structure and developement of this
part, and removes the necessity of imagining any other capsule than
what is furnished by the thickened mass or exterior frame-work of
this cartilaginous process, which is immediately covered over by the
kerapoietic membranes. About to enter the furch, however, the
cartilage becomes more broken and interrupted in its mass, and more
granular, and finally severs into plates interiorly, which singular
apparatus we have formerly described, or rather as we have some-
times thought, these plates may perhaps be considered as proceeding
from, and formed by, a process sent down from the globular bodies,
or the cartilage supporting them, and which is passing between the
two descending portions of the stratiform process, which are lining the
furch laterally, and meeting on the bottom of the middle of the frog
longitudinally, become united and form its capsule, and. thus circum-
scribing in its interior the above apparatus. A preparation of a thin
transverse slice, dried, varnished, and rendered transparent, would
seem to authorize such a conclusion. So that cartilage appears to
be the pervading principle in the hind parts of the foot, as much
as bone and ligament are in the anterior parts of this machine.

Another important office is performed by conveying the skin or
cutidura rather, to its lodgment in the coronary concave of the hoof,
and afterwards by resting against it, is perhaps facilitating the secre-
tions of the part, and by its elastic spring also, is enabling it to follow
all the movements required by these parts, without the danger of a dis-
location. It gives also to the foot an embossed and noble appearance

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externally to the eye. It protects the coffin joint and strengthens
it in a remarkable manner from the disorder which a lateral thrust
of the coronet bone would occasion it. The hoof itself also is in a
degree elastic, bending, and accommodating itself to the more violent
motions and distortions of the foot, easing thus the interior parts,
which otherwise would be bruised and suffer from resistance.

A still more important office remains to be exposed if we can suc-
ceed in making it intelligible,�that of supplying the coffin-bone with
a considerable share of its means of motion in the hoof; for it is to
be remarked, that as the coffin-bone is obliged to describe in its
descent under strong pressure from the limb and body, a small portion
or segment of a circle, at its back parts, round its centre of motion,
or rather its more fixed parts, (for there is no part of it wholly fixed,)
towards the front of the foot; so this could not have been so well
accomplished had the bone itself been fixed at its upper part to the
keraphyllous processes in front of the hoof, these being too incon-
siderable to afford in that part of the bone the extent of motion re-
quired, but by the intervention of an elastic cartilage between the
bone and the internal surface of the hoof which is carrying the pro-
cesses; the bone is thereby acquiring a greater liberty.for action, and
the movement of its upper parts, to perform the necessary depression.

Another useful office appears when we consider the horse in violent
action; the pastern and coronet bones are then forcibly drawn from
their backward position, over the front of the hoof before the foot
quits the ground, and consequently will force these posterior parts
backwards and downwards with great power, and sink and depress
them very much, but which are prevented from disunion and rup-
ture, by being contained within the encircling hoof, and the elastic
yielding body of these cartilages and the furch, will aid in restoring
them to their first position, the horn furch also assisting�and where
the cartilage again would be inconvenient or unnecessary, there we
find the reticulum processigerum is supplying its place.

A perpetual shoe would soon be intolerable, but for the nature of

125

this cartilage, and the large share it occupies in the structure of the
foot, for being highly elastic, and having, as it should appear, but
little vascularity or sensation, it gives way to the impression; and it
is a circumstance deserving particular attention, whether in cases of
contracted hoofs, the pain may in reality so much reside in the pos-
terior parts of it as in those placed more anteriorly, where there is
greater solidity, resistance, and sensation, as with the sides of the
coffin-bone and in its immediate coverings.

Of the internal bulbs, or resilient globes. Having before had
frequent occasion to allude to these parts, there will be less necessity
now for enlarging upon them. It may be observed, however, that
these two globes are forming the foundation of the two spherical
bulbs, which the horses foot is seen to present posteriorly; and
lodged in the superior concave surface of the stratiform process of
the cartilage are occupying a space extending from the posterior
surfaces of the flexor tendons to the incurvations of the cartilages, and
from side to side they occupy the space that is between the concave
surfaces presented by the lateral cartilages interiorly.

If we examine these bodies more attentively, they would appear
to be formed, of two flattened globular masses, having circular or
concentric rings of ligament or tendons disposed through their entire
substance. On rending these bodies from their bed, we leave a
most irregular uneven surface to the cartilaginous cup, full of rough
knots and lines, which we now find to be the real roots of attach-
ment of these globes to this receptaculum, and that what appeared
concentric tendons or ligaments, are in reality the continuations of
these irregular plates or processes, which are indeed perfectly cartila-
ginous, and are found to become the concentric rings we had before
called tendons, but instead of concentric circles, which a casual
inspection would easily ascribe to them, they appear transversely
disposed in lines, curving or bulging posteriorly as they rise from the
hollow cup, and growing thinner as they pass upward, they terminate

126

abruptly at the upper part of the ball. This disposition prevails as
far as to the middle of the receptaculum, when their order appears
to be reversed, and the rising lines of semicircular cartilage then
curve, or bulge anteriorly, and ascending like the former to the supe-
rior parts of the globe, approach, but do not actually meet the
former, and thus form together an imperfect appearance of concentric
circles. Those situated upon the posterior half, appear to be some-
what more robust and strong than those springing from the anterior
distribution. Interposed between these cartilaginous semi-circles
is a soft gelatino-Ugament, of a consistence rather more inspissated
than the glairey pyramidal masses we have described above them.
The rough surface of this concave receptaculum, which we had for-
merly described " as defying dissection," is in fact formed or made
up of these divided lines and ridges of cartilage, and which under-
stood, will render the part intelligible enough.* In passing the
finger, which becomes an indispensable instrument in investigating
these parts, round the brim of this basin on the inner quarter and
behind the vascular infundibulum, we detect a stout tendon, almost
cartilaginous, and which we can trace downwards into the cup of the
cartilage, inserted close to the internal edge of the perforans tendon,
and uniting with it: upwards it can be traced enlarging and passing
along the inside of the pastern bone densely envelloped in cellular
membrane till it is lost again upon the fetlock joint. This singular
part is not of constant appearance and especially in the smaller horses.

* I observe Prof. Coleman has jumbled together all these parts, under the coarse
and erroneous term of the fatty frog, and states them as abounding in oil and fat, in a
way that would almost glisten the eye and engage the speculations of a melter of tallow;
and he adds also by way of confirming it, that he has made an experiment by which he
ascertained the precise quantity of fat contained in the said fatty frog, which consists
in boiling it in oil! when he informs us one-third by weight was lost, and therefore
infers, that just so muchfat was "evaporated!"�(Tr. On Foot, p. 108.) It is true his
lucubrations may have been to him a subject of extraordinary fatness, when so many
purses of twenty guineas each, were obtained for such information as this, for not one
particle of fat or oil could I, who have found the subject a lean one enough, ever dis-
cover in them ; and as to the loss he describes, it is in reality nothing more nor less than

127

I have also observed that we may lay these parts open to great ad-
vantage, by a vertical section of the hoof through both commissures,
when also may be seen some remarkable circumstances in the appa-
ratus attending the tendons and shuttle bone and its attachments.

Having given the horny parts of the Horse's foot, with the soft and
the semi-soft parts, we shall now, contrary to our first intentions, give
the bones also, that we may present the work in a tolerably complete
state, as far as these organs are at least necessary to be known
for the illustration of the shoeing art, the most important and most
difficult branch of our profession. It will cause the present part in
the number of its pages to exceed any former one; but we trust the

the amount of the water or lymph contained in said parts, which would inevitably be
forced off in a heat of from four to five hundred degrees, the heat of boiling oil. The
experiment exhibits a remarkable ignorance in the analysis of animal substances, for
even had fat existed it would not have been at all detected by these means.

This egregious nonsense was not noticed in my former edition, nor would it have
been in this, had I experienced the smallest attention or encouragement from this
Professor of the art, whose labour it has been by false and artful insinuation, and some-
times pretended attacks, to misrepresent my writings to the class, and destroy the
reputation of their author, and from them with the public ; no doubt at times pre-
tending to praise him, but only the more securely to conceal his purpose, under the
disguise of candour and fair conduct. The Lancet, and other Periodicals of the day,
exhibit a complete proof of the untenable nature of his doctrines, even where he thought
himself most secure ; so that of what value can a diploma be, that so many are seeking
so anxiously, from such hands, when nearly all that he and his partner have taught has
been totally overturned. The establishment was a noble one, in which he had no
hand, but has abused it in many ways, till it is made a point of obstruction to the very
advancement of that art it was intended to foster and improve ; indeed we may say,
as we once before stated, in the history of the advancement of Horse knowledge, that
"the sacred path of knowledge in the arts and sciences as well also as of religion
herself, cannot be left too free;" professorships and stipends, especially when large,
and patronage soon from sordid interests, choke the fair avenues of their progress and
retard their course:�should they not therefore be so formed as not to tempt the
aspirings of the ambitious or the graspings of the avaricious ? A body of men freely
chosen from among the profession itself, should, after due examination, grant diplomas
to those in whom the public may have confidence, when the greatest utility and satis-
faction would be found by employing such votaries of this profession about their horses.

128

concise manner in which it is written and the novelty and importance
of its contents, will be thought by our readers a sufficient apology.

Of the Bones of the Foot.

Of the Coffin Bone*�which is perhaps of all the bones in the
construction of the animal the most necessary to be well understood
by the Veterinarian, therefore we are induced to add its description
to that of the former parts, and what appear to be the leading
circumstances of its oeconomy.

It is the nucleus of the foot and the basis or point upon which is
expended the whole weight and exertions of the animal, and these
impressions conveyed to the hoof by its remarkable construction
and most beautiful provisions, they are communicated by it harmless
to the ground.

When fully perfected by its natural and unrestrained growth, or as
nearly so as I have yet been able to obtain this bone, it presents in
its general figure a cone, much more so than does the hoof that
covers it, which form will obviously impart to it a power of greater
freedom in its descent and movements in the hoof, than if it had
received the same figure as this part; since the hoof, as we have
already fully demonstrated is truly a cylinder.

The figure exteriorly which this bone describes at its lower cir-
cumference is that of a semicircle or crescent somewhat dilated on
the sides, with its posterior extremities lengthened out and projecting
backwards. From its base suddenly contracting in its dimensions
upwards it forms in front a considerable elevation of bone roughened
anteriorily in lines and channels, for the strong attachment of the

* From cophinus, a basket, and immediately to us, from the French, coffin and coffre,
a box, in allusion to the hoof inclosing this bone as in a box.

129

extensor tendon of the foot which is spreading upon its surface,
leaving, however, its extreme upper edge free. On its posterior
surface this front elevation becomes part of the articulation, present-
ing a rapidly-inclining surface with two oval considerable cavities,
(see PI. 6, c, c,) which are smooth for motion, by having the usual
covering of lubricous cartilage, and receive the lower extremity of
the coronet bone.*

The front eminence, lofty and recurved, prevents the possibility of
an anterior overshooting or dislocation of the coronet bone; and a
ridge rising up in the middle of the bone between the two concave
surfaces, directs the motion of the bone above, and strengthens it at
this middle part from fracture. These two impressed surfaces are
oval and diverging as they pass backward, enlarging also and deep-
ening, by which they appear to confer a greater facility and dimi-
nished friction to the operation of the bone moving on them. The
inner cavity is somewhat larger than the outer, by which circumstance
we can detect the respective foot, whether off, or near to which the
bone belongs.

These surfaces for articulation are extensive, thereby affording
great strength, and comparatively shallow, by which they receive the
greater freedom of motion, and the danger of dislocation, to which
they would be so eminently exposed from their extreme situation in
the limb, is diminished, and their security insured by the strong
lateral support they derive from the cartilages, which are again sus-
tained by the hoof, just within which this articulation is brought.

These cavities in their posterior slope are immediately opposed to
the oblique line of bones coming from the fetlock joint, and is per-
pendicularly opposed to them, at least in the mathematical sense of
the term; and it must be obvious that their pressure towards the
ground would pass through these surfaces, and fall just within the

* From corona, or crown, the foot being rounded and full above the hoof from the
embossed cartilages, which are opposite to this bone, and hence also we have in ver-
nacular phrase, Crownet bone.

130

front circumference of the coffin bone; but on account of the very
sudden slope of these surfaces downwards, by which this pressure
will be diverted towards the quarters, and by the yielding of the
shuttle bone posteriorly, will be directed these parts being depressed,
towards the elastic provisions of the foot; which, by their spring,
and quantity of elastic matter, will abundantly break and neutralize
the impression.

Of the Shuttle Bone. Its name sufficiently denotes its figure, and
will prevent its being confused with the bones of the human body,
with any of which it has not the least analogy.�It is not made a
fixture to the coffin-bone, but, placed posteriorly to it, is moveable
upon an obliquely-slanting semi-oval surface at the back part of this
bone, and so situated, is completing the cup of the articulation:
being very moveable upon it, its fracture is prevented, and a sufficient
yielding is obtained to the weight and impression.

The union of these three articulating surfaces, that is, including
the coronet bone, form together, what is called the Coffin joint, to
which it has been usual to refer all lamenesses, that ignorance or
idleness in investigating, or real obscurity, does not at once discover
the true source of, and has greatly tended to obscure the progress of
knowledge in these affairs, and which has of late been attempted
once more to be renewed under new and absurd appellations; and
we may remark, had the word foot-hone been used instead of the
technical coffin bone, so awfully impressive to the unlearned in these
arts, half the spell of the charm would have been removed.

The shuttle bone is continually being pressed by the tendon of
the perforans (which is provided with a cartilaginous or bony con-
dyloid apparatus for the purpose) against the posterior, inferior ex-
tremity of the coronet bone, keeping it forwards upon the above
semi-oval surface at the back of the coffin bone, in which office it
somewhat resembles the sesamoidal bones situated at the back of
the fetlock joint, and like them is conferring a power by removing
the tendon to a larger angle from its insertion. The diminishing ex-

131

tremities of the shuttle bone are not much confined, but are loosely
attached to the inside of the cartilage and scutiform process by cellular
membrane, and also to the lateral edges of the perforans tendon; and
the extremities or waning points of this bone leave ample space for
forming a passage for the larger blood-vessels of the foot. These
points of the bone, however, are held by a double tie before and
behind; the anterior or stronger attachment of it advances forwards
to the cartilage at the point where it unites to the coronet ligament.
The main attachment, however, of the body of this bone is by a broad,
short ligament, to the anterior part of the hollow in the posterior cavity
of the coffin bone, situated immediately beneath it; and again also
it is attached superiorly by a broad ligament from its superior pos-
terior edge, which rising to two thirds of the height of the coronet
bone at its back part, is inserted into a short transverse ligament, ex-
tending between the back of this bone and the front surface of the
perforans tendon, giving it thereby an indirect attachment to this
important tendon, but sufficient apparently to occasion their move-
ments to be isochronous, or nearly at the same point of time.

Surfaces. We next have to consider the surfaces of the coffin bone,
where we shall have to notice several new and extraordinary par-
ticularities : see pi. 6, fig. 1. The structure of surface which this bone
presents in front, and extending some way on either side, is singularly
beautiful, consisting of elevated small ribs, or threads of bone, longi-
tudinally disposed upon it. These are not placed in exactly parallel
lines, but frequently meeting one another at very acute angles, form-
ing waving lines, and which give it somewhat of a reticulated appear-
ance. A first view of these ribs would lead one to apprehend they
were designed to carry the processes or podophylla, having a somewhat
corresponding arrangement; but this is pretty clearly not the case,
since they are both smaller and more numerous, and the processes
are found covering the bone much higher up than these ribs are
found to extend, that they are more probably provided for the support
of the Reticulum, upon which the processes are situated. On the

132

above small fibres, and in their channels, the reticulum is firmly re-
tained, evidently more so than it would be, on a plain surface of
equal extent, or on a surface even as extensive as this is rendered
that was perfectly smooth. Deriving a power from the lateral ridges,
and their impressed channels, for holding the membrane, that no plain
surface could give.

The surface of the bone above these threads or fibres is very much
roughened, and formed into asperities and depressions for the firm
adherence of the same membrane, and there is also seen a numerous
collection, chiefly in front, of small pores and perforations for blood-
vessels.

In the very middle of the lower front edge of this bone is a small
excavation or notch; and above this a prominence, nose, or prostasis
of bone, covered also with the fibrous structure. This prostasis is not
by any means a constant feature, but is frequently wanting ; the ex-
cavation is more uniformly found, and is no doubt denoting a distant
affinity with the cloven foot.

The sides of this bone, where the fibrous structure terminates, ex-
hibit a new and most singular organization. The bone considerably
enlarging at this part, is thrown into plates or scales, forming an
oblong lobe of some extent; and these plates are disposed outwards,
and inclining backwards, in almost regular lines or ranges, one over
another like tiles, or the scales of fishes, but not in contact, or
appearing to touch, having a space between them. The exterior
thin edges of these plates present numerous sharp points and angles
of bone, which are very thin and pliant: small transverse partitions
of bone also lie between these plates at right angles, supporting
them, and dividing and augmenting the surfaces for adherence ; and
towards the lower parts of this apparatus they assume more the ap-
pearance of conical cells than plates, and which also are extending
to the under surface of this bone, where the diameters of these cells
and their depth is much increased, giving it almost a spongy appear-
ance.

133

That this remarkable part of the bone should be distinguished
from the other parts of it, and as this structure appears to have tole-
rably well defined limits, we have called it the Patiloba* or scaly
node of the coffin bone, by which term we can at pleasure separately
consider it, and facilitate our views and communications on these
subjects, which cannot but essentially benefit our art.

It will be expected that we should say something on the uses of
this remarkable and unparalleled structure, being unlike any other
bone that we have ever seen, and is probably, at least as to the extent
to which it is carried peculiar to the horse, not even extending to the
rest of his family ; for, it is to be remarked, that as he is the noblest
of his tribe, and that the inferior and meaner members of it have
singularly flat-sided hoofs, so they possess also a structure of body in
conformity with them; for the ass could have no occasion for these
perfections of the foot if to the body was denied the powers for
using them : the fullness of make in the horse, and his superior
gracefulness of carriage, requires parts to sustain it, and the foot
appears to be made in conformity therefore, with these endowments,
by a more elaborate structure.

By this enlargement of the sides of the bone, an unusual extension
of surface is obtained, with a stronger hold for the cartilage or
reticulum, and at a part of the foot where the hoof, dilating under
the weight and impression of the animal, particularly demands yield-
ing combined with strength ; and the lateral parts of the bone being
thus formed into thin plates, is also thus rendered in degree elastic,
and the cartilage or reticulum being sunk in the interstices of these
plates and cells, finds there a secure lodgment from the dangers of
rupture or derangement.

The base, or inferior surface of this bone, is considerably concave,
and somewhat polished, having slight breaks in its surface and aspe-
rities for the more firm adherence of the membranous sole, and

From paleo, to extend or spread out; and loba, lobe.

134

which is also retained in its situation by the concavity of the bone,
and by the deeper cells situated on its sides and extremities, and
also by a general membranous connexion enveloping the whole bone.

The posterior view of the coffin bone presents a somewhat semi-
lunar figure, and beneath the two articulating surfaces is provided
with a broad and very deep, angular excavation, or cavity, to the
superior interior part of which, having a roughened surface, the liga-
ment adheres, which retains the shuttle bone in its place; dilating
downwards, this cavity next serves to receive the fan-like termination
of the perforans tendon, or back sinew; its anterior part also receives
the insertion of the tendon of the internal furch, and its superficial
extreme margin serves for the more firm attachment of the mem-
branes of the sensitive sole, where they unite to the furch.

The termination of the important back sinew of the leg in this
deep recess securely removes it from the danger of contusion and of
blows, to which it would be otherwise especially obnoxious on the
foot meeting the ground, from irregular bodies strewed in the road;
and it is also further defended by the bars or inflexions of the hoof,
and more interiorly by the constrated apparatus and stratiform pro-
cess of the cartilage, and the soft materials of the internal furch and
globes also; and finally, as powerfully as by any of these, (when it is
duly preserved,) by the soft body of horn of the external furch and
its cushion.

Notwithstanding these remarkable provisions and securities, nails
lying in the streets and ways often enter the foot of the horse with
the most deplorable consequences, directed by the concave of the
sole to the side of the furch, they there penetrate, and are then tech-
nically termed kennel nails by the smiths; and if the tendon gets
injured, it is attended, as we have stated, with the most lamentable
effects; often a deep abscess forms in the parts we have just de-
scribed, and the matter forcing its way up the leg, the animal dies
a miserable death from pain and irritation.

These cases will generally do well if the horn is thinned in due

135

time, and a free exit given to the discharges by enlarging the external
opening, employing bleeding, and depletory measures, with emollient,
soothing, and cooling things to the parts externally.

In desperate and neglected cases, we formerly suggested that a
seton might perhaps be employed with good effect, run through the
soft posterior parts of the foot, to relieve by its counter impression
the more deep-seated parts, and to induce, if possible, the discharges
to take that course, (ed. I., p. 118.) And this proposition, only in-
tended in desperate cases, has been, without the least acknowledgment
from whence they derived it, used extensively at the Veterinary
College under one silly pretence or other, in cases not requiring it,
and would have easily been relieved by other measures, and put into
the hands of ignorant young men, always too prone to be operating,
has been cruelly abused, from being, as they thought, something new
and striking. In slight cases, however, an injection of the sulphat of
zinc, and a poultice afterwards, with a brisk antiphlogistic general
treatment, has been found sufficient to heal the parts so injured, and
prevent the fatal termination of these direful accidents.

Of the posterior Appendices of the Coffin Bone. These extremi-
ties of the coffin bone in the horse appear, from their peculiarity in
structure, and liability to painful disease, to deserve a separate notice
and designation, as such will greatly influence and facilitate our views
and reasonings in the treatment of these cases. They are extending
backwards in a remarkable manner, and give a new feature and power
to the horse's foot, filling it up posteriorly, ennobling its appearance
every way, and strengthening his tread, giving to it quite a peculiar
character, not being found with the cow, or cloven-footed animals, and
still less with the digitated. After as much reflexion as we have had
time to bestow upon this subject, we apprehend a name as little
objectionable as any we can devise ; for it is not easy to give a new
name that shall be perfectly distinctive, and at the same time clas-
sical, short, and of easy pronunciation, and without which they must
be rejected. From the phrase or expression, Ossa retrorsum spec-

136

tantia, or ossa retrorsum, we shall, by an elision or abbreviation,
obtain retro-ossa, and Retrossa, which will make us retros in the sin-
gular, and retrossal, or retrosseous, in the adjective application of it.

Now these retrossa, or, if we use other words, posterior appendices
of the coffin bone, are evading a too strong pressure by being made
of a shelving figure upwards, towards the scutiform process, and also
beneath, and interiorly towards the side of the furch. Their very
extreme point is vastly rough with knots and excavations, by which
the cartilage is strongly held upon them, and the strength of these
processes of bone would be greatly diminished if deprived of the
scutiform plate of bone rising over them. A large foramen, or per-
foration for the passage of blood-vessels, is seen passing transversely
through them; sometimes there are two, and sometimes none, but
only a posterior notch. An impressed channel is also seen in the
side of the coffin bone for the continuation of these vessels coming
through the foramen, which is gradually effaced in approaching the
front of the bone. These retrossa are very subject to vary in differ-
ent individuals as to their form, and as to their length and bearing
also. In the young animal they are also very short, but extend and
grow backwards as the hoof and the age advance, and perhaps are
not fully completed in their formation, along with some other late
parts, before the eighth year. In the cow, and the other cloven-
footed animals, the retrosseous structure makes but a mean appear-
ance, or, indeed, does not exist, nor is there with them any scutiform
process, which appears to be a necessary adjunct where these parts
have an existence.

In the perfectly-natural foot, the retrossa are relieved, or raised a
little above the general bearing surface of the bone, by which they
have a secondary pressure; but after some time shoeing, their lower
surfaces, continually fixed on the iron, become more or less flat, or
corresponding to the surface on which they are placed.

The internal retros is much larger than the external, and is also
extending further backwards, in order perhaps to compensate for the

137

additional weight and pressure which this quarter receives, from its
being placed nearer to, and more immediately under the centre of
gravity of the trunk, since the whole frame is gravitating between
the fore legs. Hence it is so often injured by the smith, if he does
not allow it sufficient room, and lays his iron too flatly upon it. If
the Retrossa are too flat by nature, or too long, or too prominent
downwards, the bruise will take place with the more facility, and
especially also if the hoof be thin and weak, or cut away in these
parts; they are then opposed, confined, and pinched, or bruised; in
the latter case, and blood being extravasated into the horn, it is
artfully termed a Corn by the smiths, and the understanding is im-
posed upon by a false term, and even his own views often become
bewildered by it. Now the knowledge of these retrossial bruises,
their causes and prevention, and the proper treatment of them, is no
inconsiderable share of the actual practice of the veterinarian ;* for
to reform farriery effectually, we must begin by removing her delusive '
phraseology.

The Retrossa, or posterior appendices of the coffin bone, form a
bold feature in the foot of the horse, and appear to give it a more
noble character that distinguishes it from all other animals, and is
one of the many traits which, in his make and dispositions, are quite
peculiar to him, and contribute to his many excellencies. Of their
giving an increase of bearing and superior force to the foot, we think
there can be no doubt.

On the Bearings of the Coffin Bone. If we place the perfectly-
natural coffin bone upon a level, flat board, or table, it will be ob-
served to bear primarily on the quarters, and the inside quarter will
take a more decided bearing than the outer; for, as we have before
stated, it is larger, longer, and projecting more posteriorly, the causes
of which we have also endeavoured to explain. The pince, or front

* The reader is referred, for further particulars, to my Treatise expressly on this
complaint and its cure, and of canker. London, 1822. 2nd Edit., pr. 3s.

138

of the bone, will also be found to take hardly any sensible bearing,
being slightly turned up, and away from the table, obviously in order
that it might more conveniently make the rotation which the foot
performs on leaving the ground.

Situation of the Coffin bone in the Hoof. In respect to its situ-
ation in the hoof, it is very unequally placed, having its upper surface
on a level with the cutigeral concavity; and we may remark, the very
anterior summit of this bone is as nearly as possible on a level with
the upper edge of the hoof, whilst its basis, or inferior surface, is at a
much greater distance, being a full inch from the lower opening of
the hoof, or bearing surface upon the ground. The anterior, or front
surface of the coffin bone, is ever, in good feet at least, parallel to
the front line of the hoof; but when strongly pressed upon by the
weight of the animal, is a little diverging at top from this line,
through the means of the reticulum, and the other intermediate
elastic parts, its posterior parts being then much depressed. In
founder, its position is wholly changed; being detached more or
less completely, it sinks towards the middle of the hoof, and takes
the most depending part.

Of the Coronet Bone. As being connected with the bones of the
hoof, and partly immersed in it, we are induced to add its description
also to our account of this part. A remarkable trait in its con-
struction is its solidity, having no interior cavity; and when we
consider where it is situated, and what it has to perform, we need not
be at all surprised at this, since it is receiving alone the whole weight
and impulsions of the animal, that nothing less could fortify it for
such an office, and against fracture, but such solidity; and even this is
not always sufficient, since we see it is sometimes liable to this acci-
dent. This bone also is notched out at both ends, having a middle
channel in its condyles for the eminences of the bones situated
above and below it. And but for the receding properties of the
coffin bone, and elastic provisions of the hoof, it would have been
much more commonly liable to this disaster.'

139

If we attentively view the inferior condyles of this bone, and espe-
cially if we make a vertical section of it near to its side, we shall
then see that it is presenting below to the articulating surfaces of the
coffin bone, not a rounded, but flattish figure, and is prominent ante-
riorly and posteriorly, or enlarged to either side. This at first
appears a singular formation ; but if we consider that by this means
the bone, in making its rotation, will for a longer time continue its
depressing powers upon the coffin bone, we shall then perhaps dis-
cover its true cause; and further, that it will, from this formation,
present at all times when at rest a wider range of surface for repose
on the bones below upon which it is situated, and especially on the
yielding parts of them.

The upper extremity of this bone is considerably enlarged, that it
may be brought into conformity with the larger pastern bone above,
and bear its pressure without splitting. And this enlargement, for
obvious reasons, is particularly applied at the back part of the bone,
the pressure being greater in that direction, as may be noticed on
viewing the oblique downwards direction of this range of bones in
passing to the foot. The posterior part of the socket also is much
elevated, or lengthened out, the more to strengthen it posteriorly,
and apparently also that it might keep the pressure of the pastern*
bone forwards.

Such appear to be the leading principles of construction in the
foot of the horse in each separate part, and in the whole combined,
as far as our humble reflections and researches have enabled us to
consider them. It is these principles, when rightly understood, that

* From paturon, Fr., and pasturon, old French. It is also in the old English writers
called the Fetter-lock bone, as being the part on which the broad ring or shackle was
applied when the horse was turned to pasture, and confined by a log, or chain and
stake; hence we obtain fetter-lock joint, or fetlock joint, in modern phrase.

140

can unfold the obscure and intricate effects of the shoe, and these
alone; for the common shoe, from its nature, cannot in any respect
participate in these properties of the foot, and hence the cause of its
mischievous effects.

And it may be with truth averred, that such is the simple nature of
the animal himself, and his disorders, exclusive of the shoeing and its
effects, that if these could be removed, there would be little room for
the exercise of knowingness or trick respecting him by stable-men or
others, who fatten upon the miseries themselves have created, by pre-
tended measures for relief, and the changes which this crippled state
induces, and the dread which many have, for very good reasons, of
using horses, or having to do with them at all, would be in a great
degree done away.

We now have to see what will be the effects of turning a bar of
iron round to the figure of this elastic foot, and of keeping it nailed,
day and night, upon it for a series of years, under the delusive name
of a shoe.

Gaulter, Printer, Lovell's Court, Paternoster-Row.

PLATE XII, OR SUPPLEMENTARY PLATE.

Fig. I. represents a sectional slice of the horse's foot longitudinally, and over the commissural
ridge of the sole, through one of the podal globes, which is shown by this preparation to be
made up, or constituted, of a succession of foliations of thin cartilages, opposed in their direction,
and incurvated reciprocally, and thereby forming an irregular sort of flattened globular body
lying within the upright lateral cartilages, whose superior incurvation partly covers them
over; together they sustain the skin of these posterior parts of the foot, and afford that
plump rounded appearance which these parts present exteriorly to the eye.

A dense, stout, glossy membrane connects together these incurvated processes of the podal
globes, and envelopes them, and then rising upwards, extends itself over the refiexed upright
lateral cartilages, and is also covering them. This membrane has been divided by the knife,
between these foliations of cartilage, in order to show their figure more conspicuously, in its
being retracted by drying.

Here also is seen in this preparation the part I have called the Stratiform process, c, which
coming from the lateral cartilage, and diminishing as it proceeds to the interior, is passing over
the commissural ridge to enter into the cavity of the born-furch, and there to form its internal
capsule, which is invested externally by the kerapoia, or secreting membrane of the horn of the
furch. Interiorly it is giving out the cartilaginous partitions one above another, which we have
called the substrated layers, and which are seen more conspicuously in fig. 2.

a, is the coronet bone; b, the coffin bone; which have been removed to save trouble of repre-
sentation : n, is the shuttle bone; on which inferiorly is seen a singular spot of erosion, or ul-
ceration, h, which has the appearance of communicating with the anterior surface of the tendon
behind it, viz., the perforans tendon. This erosion appears to be the effect of a violent
pressure upward of the horn-sole against these tender parts especially in motion, causing
irritation, and at length, absorption�one of the dire effects of nail shoeing. Though engaged
for more than forty years in frequent dissection of these parts, it is the first time that I have
met with this singular disease, to which a frequency has been insinuated that is altogether
untrue, in order for some sinister purpose, (perhaps to stifle, disguise, and conceal, as it would
appear, the general contraction, hardening, and injury to the hoof and whole interior of the
foot) in a publication fraught with much disinegnuousness, illiberality, and falsehood; and
which, though fully answered and refuted in each separate essay as it appeared, is shamelessly
brought again before the public as though intact. This miserable effect of the shoeing was
indeed first seen and described by my esteemed friend W. Moorcroft. See Calcutta Journ. 1819.

The actual presence of this erosion can only be known by dissection after death, that any
predication of it must be little better than charlatanism. Where it is suspected to exist, the
removal of all shoeing whatever, the setting the parts at perfect liberty, a run at grass, for at
least a twelvemonth, where the refreshing herbage and the cooling sod to the feet, would pro-
bably restore the parts to their pristine condition. A horse however under treatment, might
be used during the cure, that is, as much as his natural hoof would afford of work, or de-
fended only by leather, or by iron-defended socks, or a paratrite. We are rather led to suspect
that it is the hard commissural ridge of the sole that is the offending point chiefly in producing
this disease, as being the most prominently opposed to these parts above; on which we
propose hereafter further to enlarge in a separate publication, t, is a short, broad ligament,
lodged in its peculiar recess, and opposite to which the disease also appears to be extending;
this ligament is restraining the shuttle bone, and we call it for the present, the ligamentum
nuciferum inferius, as being connected with the nut or shuttle bone, in order to distinguish so
remarkable a part; u, being the ligamentum nuciferum superius. This preparation being but
a thin slice, gives no appearance hardly of the globular character of the part, or of the limber,
gelatinous mass surrounding it, which is nearly lost also by drying.

Fig. II. is a rough sketch of a transverse section posteriorly of the horse's foot, nearly in the
course of its axis, and is made to exhibit some of the most interesting particulars of the structure of
this organ�especially of the distribution of its complex, cartilaginous machinery.

a, a, is the outer hard wall of the hoof: b, b, the whiter, softer interior of the hoof: c, c, the
keraphylla lashing the foot and hoof together, the podophylla being enclosed between them.
d, d, d, place of the elastic reticulum, or web surrounding the bone, and carrying the podo-
phylla : t, represents the oval cartilaginous root, or perichondrilla, or, abbreviated, perinilla,
which inserted strongly into the skin, produces on its convex, or outer surface, the soft furcaceous
horn, forming the periople, or furch-band, which covering over defends the line of union of the
skin with the hoof, exercising also very many other useful offices, for which see the Hippo-
nomia. z, is the cutidura anteriorly, firmly connected with the internal concave ring of the hoof,
secreting the horn of the wall; posteriorly, loosely connected with the cartilage.

g, g, is the horn sole; h, h, the bars or inflexions; i, i, the horn furch; j, j, is the super-
onuchal portion of the lateral cartilages, formed of a clear, white, crisp cutting, material. Within
its reflexed superior portion is seen a hollow cavity, invested sparingly with cellular membrane,
which, on admission of air, recedes, leaving a deepish vacuity, a provision, we apprehend, in-
tended to facilitate the circulation of the blood in the foot, when it is forcibly pumped up by the
actions of the foot in strong exertions of the animal; thus preventing the rupture of the vessels:
for, although a real vacuum could not exist in elastic parts, on account of atmospheric pressure,
a tendency to a vacuum can exist and is sufficient for this aid; here the openings of several large
vessels, chiefly veins, are also discernible. At k, k, we see the horizontally directed portion
of the cartilage proceeding interiorly from the lateral cartilage, and which we have named
the stratiform process, very irregular and less uniform in its texture than the crisp, white,
upright cartilage, being in some places almost brown, and coriaceous, or leathery, in others
radiate and implicate; arriving at the brink of the horn-furch on the dorsum of the ridge, it
assumes a more knotted, glittering appearance, and is sending off one, some-times two, liga-
mento-cartilaginous expansions, which extend over the chasm of the horn-furch; it then descends
into it, and lines its whole interior, forming the internal capsule of the furch, having on its out-
side the kerapoia, for forming the horn; it is hardly however a discernible object, like some
other important membranes. Manifest papilliform vessels from it however, enter the substance
of the horn of the furch, apparently for maintaining its tenacity, and its very ductile consistence,
and perhaps also determining its natural thickness.

The interior of this cartilaginous capsule, we see is sending off across the cavity, various
horizontal portions or layers of ligamento-cartilage, to form what we have called the constrated
layers, having between them, jutting out, a white, sometimes yellowish, or sometimes reddish,
gelatinous, elastic ligament, mistaken "for bags of yellow oil," and affording, perhaps, the most
perfectly non-resistant medium that an organised living part can be made to afford, beau-
tifully defending the tender parts above, from accidental contusion.

We next advert to the cartilaginous podal globes, n, n, which are seen placed on the upper
surface of the stratiform, whose plates are concentrically opposed to each other; and are
covered over and connected by a dense, glossy membrane, which above connects them with the
upright lateral cartilages at o, o, as stated in fig. ]; and the construction of these globes is
also best explained by reference to that figure.

p, p, a mass of cellular membrane extremely yielding, soft, and flabby, covering over and pro-
tecting the posterior, or flexor tendon, connecting also the elastic globes, it is sometimes
forming a plastic mass of considerable thickness over these globes between them and the skin,
together affording the handsome mammiform appearance the horse's foot has within the in-
flexures. x, the perforans tendon, singularly made up of two kinds of matter, a white mass in
front and yellow posteriorly, q, a portion of the interior retros, larger than that of the opposite
side. For other interesting particulars we must refer the reader to the Hippodonomia.



	PL /

	J°aHZoia.

	■ .'"/.;/�.,�/, /,,/,;,	QfeiftedCartilcye.

	T.Jimfim Scnfy,



	HIPPODONOMIA,

	OR

	THE TRUE STRUCTURE, LAWS, AND ECONOMY, OF THE HORSE'S FOOT:

	ALSO PODOPHTHORA, OR A RUINOUS DEFECT IN THE PRINCIPLE OF THE COMMON SHOE DETECTED; AND DEMONSTRATED BY EXPERIMENTS: WITH A PROPOSITION FOR A NEW PRINCIPLE OF SHOEING, WHICH ABUNDANT PRACTICE HAS SINCE CONFIRMED. By BRACY CLARK, F. L. S. Member of the Royal Institute of France; of the Royal Society of Berlin and Copenhagen ; Royal Agricultural Society of Stutgard; and Honorary Member of the Natural History Society of New York, Sfc.

	Naturam Ferro expellas usque dum non recurret.

	SECOND EDITION, ENLARGED AND IMPROVED. LONDON: PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR : SOLD BY T. & G. UNDERWOOD, 32, FLEET-STREET, AND E. LIMEBEER, 19, GILTSPUR-STREET, NEWGATE-STREET. 1829.



	[entered at stationers' hall.]

	Gaultek, Printer, Lovell's Court, Paternoster-Row.



	17 of paring away the foot, are all discretional circumstances only, though they materially affect the feet and manner of going of the horse, yet are not properly difference of principle, but are acted upon in endless variety, according to the fancy of the workman, and often with more mischievous consequences than the principle itself necessarily entails; and to separate what is owing to the one, and what to the other, is truly difficult where both are injurious. I had thoughts of separately considering each of these conditions, and laying down more precise rules for them, that the workmen might have some more regular guide for their labours; but dis- covering a flagrant and unexpected defect in the nature of the prin- ciple itself, I have devoted my first labours to the making that demonstrative and clear. It is matter of great surprise to me now, that so obvious a circum- stance could even for a day have escaped my notice ; but so strong are the prejudices of education and habit, and the perplexity arising from the usual phrases of the workmen about these things, with a certain fear of forming opinions on what appeared to be so mysterious a subject, that years passed with it daily before me without my per- ceiving this now obvious fact. Mr. Moorcroft, I observe, in one part °f his publication, has stated that the foot from a round is reduced to an oval by shoeing; but here he leaves the subject without a comment, and falls afterwards into the commonly entertained views the ff⁶ ^thlnSS ^: ^and ^0smer' ^man>^r y^ears ^back' ^had obscure ideas of e e ects of the compression of the feet from shoeing; yet neither t*ll J^T^⁶ °^r ^ ^otller ⁱⁿ ^tnese ^wri^ters had struck me on perusal, il the facts I _am _about _tQ _expQSe _fuHy _opened _them _tQ _my _yiew. though now it is clear they had both alluded to this circumstance ; yet, from the general tenor of their works, they seemed only to apprehend these consequences from shoeing in particular cases, and understood not what it was that did it. tr trf ^SUSpicions ^once awakened, could not rest long without their or falsehood being proved; and, whilst contemplating the cir-



	27 formed in relation, and made subservient to. I here allude to the simple principle of Elasticity, or the condition of an elastic yielding of the hoof to every degree of impression of the weight or of exer- tion of the animal brought upon it. This inestimable property it is that guarantees the foot from fatigue, preserves it from jar, and the body from re-action and con- cussion, and all the injuries which a too solid resistance would have occasioned to both, and probably assisting also the animal in his advances by a return to its former figure after distension. Examples of the general property of Elasticity in feet. For the clearer developement of this principle, I shall now select among the various families of the quadruped world some striking examples where its existence and beneficial effects may be conspi- cuously perceived, and afterwards exhibit it in the foot of the horse more fully, where this property for certain reasons is not so obvious, and which has caused it hitherto to have been overlooked, occa- sioning to this most worthy animal for a long period the grossest injustice, and the infliction of incalculable suffering and misery. The feet of quadrupeds, we may remark, in their different races, are very differently constructed for meeting the ground, and for sup- porting their bodies.�Some of these, which are extremely light and active, and which appear to live on trees, almost as the birds, rather than on the ground, as the Squirrel, have their feet formed of long digitations or fingers only, with long horny claws and curved, in order to the running up the trunks of trees, sticking into the bark, and which also enable them to hold themselves if there is occa- sion, and to run along suspended in a surprising manner to the underside of the branches; and some of this agile family may be almost called beasts of the air, for they can fly from tree to tree, and even descend from the tops of the highest trees of the forest to the ground by making a parachute of their lax and very extended skins; ^a ^qve» our own common squirrel will descend in this way through d2



	31 arts of shoeing, and its difficulties and mysteries, though it might very well serve, as it has done before with some, to make a book for sale; but intend to confine ourselves chiefly to the hoof itself, which will nearly explain all that is necessary. In order to illustrate these subjects, we shall divide the hoof into its constituents of three dis- tinct parts, which has not been attended to before, and view them afterwards connectedly, to show that they produce by their com- bination not only a box of horn for the covering the foot, as it has been hitherto generally regarded, but also a most beautiful machine, possessing remarkable properties, and an almost indefinite power of yielding to the load, a property as indispensable as the defence ancl protection that it so obviously affords.* We commence with its chief member. Of the Wall of the Hoof. Its name.�General form. All the exterior part of the hoof, which is seen by the eye when the foot is placed upon the ground, we call the wall of the hoof, for, like the wall of a building, it sustains all the more delicate parts within, and serves to protect them from the injury of the external elements: the French also call this part for the same reason la muraille, or the wall, which we vastly prefer to the miserable term crust, by which some have designated it, and

	* As this work may for some time be a work of reference in our art, so I take the earliest opportunity of explaining to those who may not have studied the Greek lan- guage, the signification of the two words used in the title, the utility of which, as dis- tinctive names will be found at all times in speaking of or referring to this work, as they may be used at full length or in any abbreviation, as Clark's Hipponomy, or simply Clark's Podonomy, instead of a long tedious explanatory title, which in English would have been necessary; for new terms are best to fix new arts. The first of these, Hippodonomia, is derived from <�s, a horse; «w, «». » ^foot5 ^and "°^M°^S' ^a ^law" The other is from �, �8�_s, _a foot; and 8°p«, corruption or destruction; from the same root, 0«p�, as our common word Phthisis* used for the complaint called a con- sumption. And to those desirous of an abbreviation, Podora would supply a term ot easy use.



	37 perform such office, but seem to obey rather, and pass in with it if it contracts, as we actually see take place in contracted feet. They have a deflected appearance, or are inclining downwards and outwards, that any pressure against them from the ground may drive them to dilate or open outwardly and from the frog, and thus follow the general dilatation of the wall and quarters, and prevent any painful jamming or condensation of these tender parts. Their characteristic appearance is very well given in the frontispiece, or plate I. Opposite the middle of the frog they form a more spacious concavity, and then suddenly close in approaching the point, especially on the inside quarter, and near their termination, they become flakey and are less coherent. Along their upper edges the frog is attached, and their actual union with it we call The Commissure, after the manner of the ancients. The hollow spaces formed by the lateral recedence of these inflexions, we call the Cavities of the commissure. And in order to speak of, or consider them more easily in their qualities, or adjectively, we call them Intortiones, or intortional or inflexural parts, the convenience and advantage of which will be often perceived in the course of this work. We may now remark that the sudden inflexion of the wall gives it as it were a duplication, or doubling of the horn at these places; and two stout columns of horn are thereby formed at these points, of the greatest utility in the natural, and still more so in the artificial defence of the hoof, for the iron to rest upon, without the danger of its injuring the sole, or crushing or confining its extreme point, which is but too often bruised by the shoe; and its lacerated vessels giving out red blood, it is artfully termed a corn, though human corns are not usually red, but are white, hardened, and extended cuticle, from a morbid action induced by pressure and friction, and have no sort of relationship to these bruises.�Now in the natural hoof, these columns of the inflexions form below a hard rounded knot, abundantly useful in defending from wear these pos-



	43 These processes or extremities of the coffin bone scarcely exist in the young horse, but extend backwards with the growth of the hoof and the full developement of these parts. To prevent any direct pressure on these tenderer parts of the foot, the smiths usually bevil or slope the upper surface of the shoe down- wards and inwards, and which has been much inveighed against by various writers on these subjects, and considered as the principal cause of contracted feet, though those who thus complained, and reasoned without the practice, did not know that horses if shod dif- ferently would not go so well; for seated shoes level in this part do not, as practice and experience confirm, so well suit the foot as those made with a slight bevil or inclination in every part of their upper surface, which also prevents the horn from cracking iip and splitting better than a flat, seated shoe ; and as to the contraction of the heels, we shall see presently that it arises from quite other causes. That un- less carried to a great excess indeed, this bevilling does not appear to make so much difference as might be imagined, and this on account of the firmness with which the foot is held upon the surface of the shoe by the nails, which fix it almost immoveably as to its going either m or out; and this fixedness is farther aided by the inequalities of the iron to which the horn adapts itself; for it must be obvious that the inflexural parts of the hoof can have no great extent of motion but in concert with the quarters, and which are, by the nails passing through them, most immoveably fixed. Now the pmce of the inside quarter is seen to be vastly more pro- jecting than the pince of the outside quarter; which is not only so naturally, but is rendered more conspicuously so from the other side being worn away by the natural wear and action of the horse. This prominent part has received a name with the French, who call it La mammelle, or The teat, but with us it is without name. We may next remark of the two inferior nodes of the inflexural columns, that on the outside is more evasee, to use a French expres- sion, or extensively thrown out, and tortuous, while that of the inside f2



	44 . is deeper, or fuller, and rather thinner, and consequently more elastic in its horn, and rises higher in protecting the point of the sole, and is not so much rubbed away in the natural use of the foot. Of the wear of the hoof. We may perhaps introduce at this place our remarks on the wear or detrition of the hoof in the natural use of the foot, but which is wholly done away by the defence of the shoe, and which must also operate its peculiar effects upon the foot in diminishing the natural elasticity and liberty of its parts, which such defrication or removal would occasion them to have. That part of the hoof which is rubbed away on the foot meeting the ground and on leaving it, we call the line of wear ; it extends in this foot, as we may see in this elegant plate, from the inside pince to the letter c, very far along the outside quarter, leaving the inside quarter almost full, entire, and free from wear, and is not in front of the foot, or across the ex- tremity of the toe or pince, as might be naturally expected. We have thought that the sole along this line of wear is thicker harder and more intimately united to the wall than elsewhere, espe- cially in the natural foot, often communicating a smoothness, hard- ness, and polish to these parts, that the natural soil can make but little impression upon, and which in grass fields, and especially in snows and ice, acquires an almost flinty hardness of surface, and many, very many horses, belonging ta gentlemen not using them more than for their own healthful exercise, might go perfectly well entirely without shoes, and so escape all the frightful catalogue of evils that at present belong to this art.* * On smooth flat stones, like the flag stones of the streets of London, a horse would probably travel some hundred miles before his hoofs (which would be hardened and polished by them) would be worn through; and of this description were the Roman causeways, on which the rattling made by the hoofs very naturally suggested their favourite epithet for the horse of, Sonipes.�On an English gravel road I have found, by experiment, with a natural foot at five years old, that thirty, or five and thirty miles, is as much as they will do, though by taking all advantages of grass which grew by the road side, of deep sand in places, and by great care, I once rode from London, to Calne in Wiltshire in less than three days, on my way to Bath, without shoes.



	45 This oblique direction in the wear answers a double purpose of the most useful kind; for a bare mention of the facts would have hardly any interest if we did not venture to explain the causes of them also. In the first place, the attrition and wearing away of the hoof does not proceed so rapidly as it would have done had it gone on in a straight line across the front of the toe from the foot being narrower there, and ceconomy in this respect is of no small value to the animal in a state of nature, or used without shoes, as was formerly the case everywhere, and is still the case in some countries, the wear is thus turned towards the strongest and hardest part of the hoof; and the remarkable bulge, noticeable with this side or quarter of the hoof, extends the line of wearing surface in a still greater degree; which, with the projection of the mammelle, will also augment this line, and further aid in preventing a too rapid detrition of the hoof. And we may farther remark, that this mode of wear of the hoof is not directed to the outside of the foot by any mechanism in the foot itself, but by the bones of the knee having their surfaces for motion directed outwards, so that when the foot is off the ground, or put in motion, it is obliged to follow this direction: cutting, or interfering with the opposite leg, is at the same time also materially prevented by this beautiful arrangement. Of the natural bearings of the foot on the ground. It is a cir- cumstance not devoid of interest, in respect to the foot and shoeing,- and hitherto unnoticed, that the surface of bearing of the natural hoof is not, as might be expected, round the whole line of the inferior circumference of the wall; but that the horn of the inside intortional column is, as we have frequently before remarked, on a lower level than the outer inflexion, thereby taking a first impression, and inclin- ing the foot to the opposite side. Next to this, the bearing extends along the quarter to the mammelle, and thirdly, the outer intortional column, take their bearings, thus sustaining the weight, as it were, upon three distant points, acquiring thereby the greatest firmness,



	58 flections open been intended. And the sharp part of this supposed wedge is turned to the ground, and not to the object it is supposed to act against. And further, if we look at the base of the frog, which part has its great width, matter and power, we there see a hollow cavity, being the base of the frog-stay. Now would any mechanic of common sense make a hollow space in the very point of the chief resistance of his wedge ? In my early studies at this college, as it is called, I was also led into frog-squeezing notions, derived I know not how, but I believe from St. Bel, and these ideas held me for some years; becoming engaged in actual practice, the best of all teachers, where there is reflection and openness to conviction, and a distrust of reasoning ; I first was led, from seeing bad effects from it, to doubt the truth of this fasci- nating delusion, which ended soon after in a conviction of its fallacy. I was next led to consider what part in the structure of other ani- mals this frog could be allied to, and referred it to a correspondence with the central pads in the feet of the digitated animals ; but after- wards saw also that this in some respects was not correct, since the pad in the dog and cat's foot is designed for a primary impression on the ground for the impulsion of the animal; but not so the frog of the horse, for it clearly would not have done for an animal of such weight, and destined to be of the first order of fleetness, to depend on soft parts for his primary impulsion, as such softness would cer- tainly have very much paralyzed, if not entirely destroyed, its effect. It was necessary, therefore, he should have a more solid point, or range of points rather, of bearing for this purpose, and which is fully afforded him in the solidity and more extensive circuit of the hoof. It may be remarked, however, that this part is really analogous in some respects to the pads in other animals, for it consists of the same materials, viz., horn, ligament, tendon, and resilient elastic stuffing: these, however, are beautifully separated into classes in the horse, forming a much more elaborate and noble design than in the pads, where they appear almost, if I may be allowed the expression, heaped



	85 the foot, especially of the posterior parts, are then in a very supple state, and may receive from the frog that pressure that will in a degree assist to unfold and open them to the extent nature requires, in which the bars will also co-operate with the frog and inflexions. This purpose effected, and the growth and strength of the foot completed, the frog we find assumes a higher station, more out of the reach of too much battering upon the ground. The frog of my bay colt, (Heathfield) at two years old, was soft and puffy, and swollen in the middle, and with- out much feature, and the frog-stay with a chop or slit longitudinally extending beyond the proper limits of the cleft; and the margins were beginning to appear, but shapeless as yet, so that out of this soft mass the frog forms itself, and at length becoming harder, and con � densing in volume, it receives its sharpness and features. See PL 6. At five years old exactly, and in the month of May, my chesnut mare, after two or three exfoliations in quick succession, had the frog suddenly become very pointed, and the body of the frog also became diminished and harder, and its sides impressed or bent in,. giving it a handsome sharp feature, and an efficient appearance for service. So that it is not till five, this organ obtains its proper appearance. This I mention, lest a casual view of the frog in a young horse might lead the reader to suspect the above statement not to be correct. It appears also, in fact, that it is not so much from the upward pres- sure against the frog, as from the downward pressure of the limb and weight of the body upon the bones of the foot, that should produce this effect of expansion upon the yielding contents of the hoof: timely assisted, and in due time prevented, from too much depression in this direction, by meeting with che support of the frog, then brought to the ground at the time the strain and weight is greatest : the sides of the foot then expanding laterally through their whole extent, and springing back again to their places on the removal of the exertion and weight. And they must, in any violent exertion, as m galloping, &c, where the force is tenfold that of the mere weight, make these parts, if at liberty, play, or expand to an extent, that



	89 from the cleft, became more an object of regard, as also from its in- creased frequency from the habits of using shoes, and of the shoeing smiths in cutting the part; so it received very naturally the name of the running frush, which meant no more at first than the running or discharging frog. The word frush, however, being strange to these men, soon became converted into thrush, being exclusively ap- plied, and technically used for the disorder only, and became absorbed in the diseased part; this next created a necessity for writers sub- sequently, or the men themselves, to invent some other name for the entire organ; and it was about the time of Gibson, or of Markham, one of his predecessors, that they first took to calling this part the frog, which absurd term has been ever since continued in this country, but is wholly unknown to any other : such appears to be the true steps of the explanation of this affair : and to which I may add also, that in my opinion the sooner the term is abandoned again the better, to which so many morbid notions attach, and to employ in its stead the ancient term furca, furc, or furch, as may be thought pre- ferable ; the latter we prefer as being more strong and distinctive.* We could however desire forcibly to recommend to those who wish to write intelligibly or elegantly on these subjects in treating of the frog, or its qualities or relations, to recur again as much as pos- sible to the original Latin epithet/Mrca, since rana, ranula, or ranine, can never apply but to the animal itself. The following may serve as examples of this use. Furcaceous weakness is difficult to be overcome. The furcaceous structure in the foot is peculiar to the horse tribe, though furcaceous rudiments exist with the feet of many families of quadrupeds. Furcaceous debility and tenderness ever follow its being hacked by the knives of the smiths, &c. Indeed this would be greatly to the advantage of the science; and in removing * The French translator laughed when I told him we called it la grenouille; and I ac- knowledge I felt also somewhat ashamed of the taste of my countrymen ; but when he was compelled to use merle courant to translate running thrush, he became perfectly convulsed. M



	90

	the silly term frog from the horse's foot, we shall only remove a mis- nomer and barbarism of the first order, the use of which will be ever attended with confusion and ambiguity; and by restoring again the ancient term furch, we enrich the English language, and add to its copiousness, by a useful and expressive term well suited to the sub- ject, and for a distinct object that never can again be confounded with any other. We may also use running furch for the discharging frog without any confusion; or we may, which perhaps may be still better, retain the word frush exclusively for the disorder; either way, however, no confusion can arise whichever of these terms we choose to employ. We now conclude our description of the external furch, leaving the highly curious structure of the internal furch to be given with the attaching parts. And for some further particulars of the growth of the furch, arid cure of the frush, we must refer the reader to our Treatise on Running Frush. London. 1821. 2d edit.

	Of the Sole. We have thought it advantageous to describe the above two im- portant members of the hoof, the wall and the frog, together, or in suc- cession, as conveying to the mind a more lively and combined notion of their mutual actions and relations; so we now proceed to consider the third and last member composing the hoof, viz. the Sole : for in reality there are no more than three full parts to form the hoof, though they may be divided into five for minutely examining them; for in fact the two inflexions are but parts of the wall, and the fur- caceous extension round the upper part of the hoof forming the band, may be considered as one with the frog; the sole is therefore making the third member of the hoof. For its appearance when de- tached, the reader may consult pi. 2, fig. 3; and in combination with the other parts, pi. 1, or frontispiece. This part may be described as an irregular thick plate of horn,



	101

	account, but its enormities, bad as they are, are as nothing to the ironings, bittings, gaggings, strappings, and scourgings of these most inoffensive and worthy creatures.

	DIV. 2.�OF THE ATTACHING PARTS. After a Foot has been macerated a few days in water, it may be drawn forth from the hoof, and we are then presented with a view of the interior foot, some of whose surfaces are chiefly for attachment, others for attachment, but chiefly secretion. I first describe------ The Cutidura* the uppermost of these, which is prominent and round- ed, being in reality a prolongation or extension of the skin indurated and enlarged, in order to fill the cutigeral concavity of the hoof. This part has hitherto been strangely taken for a ligament, though without possessing a single trait of this description of parts, but is itself ac- tually held in its position by other ties or attachments, such as the perioplic band and keraphylla, aided by the hollow cavity in the top of the hoof, and the numerous vessels which enter it. The cutidura appears intended for conveying into the coronary con- cave of the hoof the organ for the immediate secretion of the wall; and we find it, in fact, composed of two very different parts or struc- tures, the innermost of these being a dense white cartilaginous cushion, and which acts as a bolster in supporting the membrane above it: this cartilaginous part is but little vascular in itself, but is much perforated for the admission of blood-vessels through it, which on emerging, suddenly radiate into the membrane above. This super- imposed membrane is red and highly vascular, and in thickness ap- pears to be about the sixteenth of an inch; it is rough on its exterior surface, which fits it to the concave ring of the wall, of which it is

	* From Cutis, skin, and dura, hard.



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	Of the Uses of the Cartilages. These extensive cartilages are made to serve many important pur- poses in the business of the foot, some of the more leading of which we shall here endeavour to expose. And in a foot having such ex- traordinary demands upon it, it will be evident the resistance of a solid unyielding body would have been quite inconvenient in the sides and posterior parts of it at least, so that on this account they occupy so very large a share of it as a substitute for bone, battening out, and supplying the form of the foot in these parts to a con- siderable extent: for the coffin bone, except by its extremities, does not in reality extend much beyond the middle of the hoof; the rest of its figure is almost wholly communicated by these cartilages, strengthened and assisted by the hoof. And the singularly-small appearance which the coffin bone makes, when compared with the hoof it belonged to, is chiefly occasioned by the extensive share of its upper parts, more especially, occupied by these widely-distributed cartilages, the supplementary intermedia, of the foot; and which are assuming in their course an extraor- dinary variety of thickness and hardness according to the parts they fill up, or offices they have to perform; and which become, if held rigidly, and deprived of their natural motions, osseous, or converted into bone, especially in their more solid parts, and then have obtained the name of Ring-bones, that is, bones of the ring, or superior circle of the hoof, the coronary process being more espe- cially liable to this affection. Both portions of the cartilage united, circumscribe the lateral and posterior boundaries of the foot constituting a kind of elastic general frame upon which it is highly probable the horn is first receiving its form, and which also extends as this part extends with age; the cartilage, also, we should apprehend, must grow and increase with the developement of the frog, since this organ at birth is little else than thin horn and membrane.



	128 concise manner in which it is written and the novelty and importance of its contents, will be thought by our readers a sufficient apology.

	Of the Bones of the Foot. Of the Coffin Bone�which is perhaps of all the bones in the construction of the animal the most necessary to be well understood by the Veterinarian, therefore we are induced to add its description to that of the former parts, and what appear to be the leading circumstances of its oeconomy. It is the nucleus of the foot and the basis or point upon which is expended the whole weight and exertions of the animal, and these impressions conveyed to the hoof by its remarkable construction and most beautiful provisions, they are communicated by it harmless to the ground. When fully perfected by its natural and unrestrained growth, or as nearly so as I have yet been able to obtain this bone, it presents in its general figure a cone, much more so than does the hoof that covers it, which form will obviously impart to it a power of greater freedom in its descent and movements in the hoof, than if it had received the same figure as this part; since the hoof, as we have already fully demonstrated is truly a cylinder. The figure exteriorly which this bone describes at its lower cir- cumference is that of a semicircle or crescent somewhat dilated on the sides, with its posterior extremities lengthened out and projecting backwards. From its base suddenly contracting in its dimensions upwards it forms in front a considerable elevation of bone roughened anteriorily in lines and channels, for the strong attachment of the From cophinus, a basket, and immediately to us, from the French, coffin and coffre, a box, in allusion to the hoof inclosing this bone as in a box.



	130 front circumference of the coffin bone; but on account of the very sudden slope of these surfaces downwards, by which this pressure will be diverted towards the quarters, and by the yielding of the shuttle bone posteriorly, will be directed these parts being depressed, towards the elastic provisions of the foot; which, by their spring, and quantity of elastic matter, will abundantly break and neutralize the impression. Of the Shuttle Bone. Its name sufficiently denotes its figure, and will prevent its being confused with the bones of the human body, with any of which it has not the least analogy.�It is not made a fixture to the coffin-bone, but, placed posteriorly to it, is moveable upon an obliquely-slanting semi-oval surface at the back part of this bone, and so situated, is completing the cup of the articulation: being very moveable upon it, its fracture is prevented, and a sufficient yielding is obtained to the weight and impression. The union of these three articulating surfaces, that is, including the coronet bone, form together, what is called the Coffin joint, to which it has been usual to refer all lamenesses, that ignorance or idleness in investigating, or real obscurity, does not at once discover the true source of, and has greatly tended to obscure the progress of knowledge in these affairs, and which has of late been attempted once more to be renewed under new and absurd appellations; and we may remark, had the word foot-hone been used instead of the technical coffin bone, so awfully impressive to the unlearned in these arts, half the spell of the charm would have been removed. The shuttle bone is continually being pressed by the tendon of the perforans (which is provided with a cartilaginous or bony con- dyloid apparatus for the purpose) against the posterior, inferior ex- tremity of the coronet bone, keeping it forwards upon the above semi-oval surface at the back of the coffin bone, in which office it somewhat resembles the sesamoidal bones situated at the back of the fetlock joint, and like them is conferring a power by removing the tendon to a larger angle from its insertion. The diminishing ex-