80 THE ADVENTURES OF A GENTLEMAN 



To enable him to receive his lesson with more ad- 

 vantage, I will briefly mention the principal parts of 

 this important organ. 



The foot is enclosed in a horny case called the 

 hoof. This horny case is termed the crust or wall. 

 It is about half an inch in thickness in the fore part 

 of the foot, and becomes thinner as it recedes. I 

 have already observed that the hoof inclines upwards 

 in the form of a beer-tunnel ; it would be more scien- 

 tific to say that the inclination is, or ought to be, at 

 an angle of 45 degrees with the plane of the shoe. 

 If this angle is materially less, the sole is flat or per- 

 haps convex ; if the angle exceeds 45 degrees, the 

 foot is contracted. Any man may easily accustom 

 his eye to an accurate measurement of the angle, by 

 attentively noticing it in the extension of a pair of 

 compasses. It would be rather green, however, to 

 produce them at Tatter sail's or the Bazaar. 



Where the hoof appears to unite with the skin at 

 the top, or more properly speaking at the root of it, 

 it is called the coronet. The crust here becomes 

 very thin, and at the thinnest, it is called the coro- 

 nary rmg. There is a thick fold of skin just above 

 this, which is called the coronary ligament^ not that 



