FOR PEACE AND WAR. 139 



same cause ; that the small bones of the foot, squeezed together 

 by the weight resting directly on the extremity of the "coffin 

 bone," are all in their turn liable to inflammation at their points 

 of juncture, the navicular bone especially, which is so often the 

 seat of the worst cases of lameness, that the deposit of bone 

 being stimulated by the pressure and concussion to which all 

 parts are thus exposed, the joints become liable to callosities and 

 bony enlargements, which too frequently involve the whole foot 

 in some of the worst species of unsoundness, in shape of ossified 

 cartilages and ringbone. 



Following the mischief up the leg, we next find the " back 

 sinew," which Nature chiefly designed for the purpose of lifting 

 the foot and contracting the pastern, deprived of all opportunity 

 of exercising its proper functions, and so exposed to these enlarge- 

 ments consequent on that state of relaxation, so often mistaken 

 for sprain in the back sinew. 



Ascending higher, we find increased tendency to bony deposits, 

 consequent on accumulated concussion of the parts, promoting the 

 formation of large splints, which, though callous in themselves, 

 almost invariably produces lameness when they are growing 

 through the sensitive tissue, by irritating and pressing against 

 the sheaths of the tendons which play over and beside them ; and 

 finally carrying our investigation to the upper extremity of the 

 limb (with the cursory remark that this tendency to increased 

 bony deposits, caused by accumulated concussion consequent upon 

 the straightening out of the pastern joint, will appear in the bones 

 of the arm and shoulder, as well as those of the foot and shank), 

 we find the plate of muscles forming the attachment by which the 

 blade bone is affixed to the trunk, suffering as well as the rest of 

 the limb from the same evils ; the shock of every stroke of the 

 hoof against the ground, no longer broken by the elastic play of 

 the pastern joint, being communicated directly to these fibres, 

 which, not being designed in the structural economy of the animal 

 for resisting such concussion, are often affected by inflammation 

 and even rupture, producing the most serious cases of shoulder 

 lameness. 



