THE HORSE. 



23 



two surfaces. By one edge it grows to the 

 wall ; the other, which is somewhat attenu- 

 ated, hangs loose and floating within the 

 cavity of the hoof. The surfaces, which are 

 two lateral, are smooth, and, considering 

 the magnitude of the lamella itself, of enor- 

 mous extent ; so much so that it might be 

 said almost to be constituted entirely of 

 superficies. And this leads us to the con- 

 templation of the great and magnificent 

 design which Nature evidently had in view 

 in their formation, viz., the production of 

 ample surface within a small space, an end 

 that has been obtained through the means 

 of multiplication. Mr. Bracy Clark pro- 

 cured from the late Thos. Evans, L.L. D., 

 mathematical teacher of Christ's Hos- 

 pital, a calculation of what their united 

 superficies amounted to ; and it appeared 

 to afford an increase of actual surface more 

 than the simple internal area of the hoof 

 would give of about twelve times, or about 

 212 square inches, or nearly one square foot 

 and a half. 



" The lamellae exhibit no differences but 

 in their dimensions. In length they corres- 

 pond to the respective depths of the wall ; 

 being longest, and likewise broadest, around 

 the toe, and gradually decreasing towards 

 the hinder parts. 



" In composition they are horny. Viewed 

 through a microscope, Mr. Clark discovered 

 in their substance two planes of fibres, ' the 

 one running in parallel lines to the axis of 

 the hoof, the other obliquely intersecting 

 these.' When stretched, they exhibit signs 

 of elasticity; but this appears greater in 

 the transverse than in the perpendicular 

 direction. 



" By means of its lamellee, the wall 

 presents a superficies of extraordinary am- 

 plitude for the attachment of the coffin- 

 bone. A structure consisting of similarly 

 formed lamellae envelops the bone, and these 

 are dovetailed in such a manner wdth the 

 horny lamellae, as to complete a union 

 which, for concentrated strength, combining 

 elasticity, may vie with any piece of animal 

 mechanism at present known to us. 



" Tlie Bars are processes of the wall, in- 



flected from its heels obliquely across the 

 bottom of the foot. For a long time, by 

 farriers, they were confounded with the sub- 

 stance of the sole, an error that owed its 

 origin and perpetuation to the malpractice 

 they exercised in paring the foot — in cut- 

 ting both bars and sole down, without any 

 distinction, to a common level. In the 

 natural healthy foot the bars appear, exter- 

 nally, as elongated sharpened prominences, 

 extending from the bases of the heels into 

 the centre of the foot, between the sole and 

 the frog; posteriorly, they are continuous 

 in substance with the wall, with which they 

 form acute angles ; anteriorly, they stretch 

 as far as the point of the frog, constituting 

 two imier walls or lateral fences between 

 that body and the sole. Sainbel conceives, 

 from then- position, that they offer resistance 

 to the contraction of the heels. Their in- 

 ternal surfaces exhibit rows of lamella, 

 continued from those lining the wall, but 

 which are here short, and in their direction 

 transverse, two cu'cumstances referable to 

 the narrowness and inflection of the bar. 

 Towards the extremity of the bar they 

 gradually grow shorter, and less distinctly 

 marked, until we at length lose all vestige 

 of any more of them. While the promi- 

 nence of the bars is such as to give them a 

 secondary bearing upon the ground, their 

 sharpened forms will sink them more or 

 less deeply into every impressible surface. 



" THE SOLE. 



" The sole is the arched plate entering 

 into the formation (as its name implies) of 

 the bottom of the hoof: or, to adopt Sain- 

 bel's definition, ' it is that part which covers 

 the whole inferior surface of the foot, ex- 

 cepting the frog.' It is a very just practical 

 observation of Mr. Coleman's, that although 

 a knowledge of every part of the foot is in- 

 dispensably necessary to render us scientific 

 overseers of the farrier's art, no individual 

 part requires such undivided attention, as 

 regards shoeing, as the sole, since the suc- 

 cess of this mechanical operation mainly 

 depends on the paring and defence of this 

 arched horny plate. 



