424 PLANTAR SYSTEM. 



a half inches. The bow or degree of convexity of the toe in front 

 must depend upon its obhquity as well as upon the circularity of 

 the foot. The thickness of the horn composing the toe may be 

 estimated at three eighths of an inch, or from that to half an inch, 

 and this substance is the same from immediately beneath the 

 coronary circle to the junction of the wall with the sole ; at which 

 .part there is an accession of horny matter to block up the inter- 

 stices between the laminas, and also to fill the angular vacuity 

 that would otherwise exist here between the wall and sole. In 

 the forefeet, the toe is thicker in substance than either the quar- 

 ters or heels : but (we have it from Sainbel) " in the hind, on the 

 contrary, the heels and quarters are generally thicker than the 

 toe." 



THE QUARTERS are the portions of the wall intermediate 

 between the toe and the heels. They are commonly described as 

 standing upright, and, according to a carpenter's square set against 

 the wall, so they appear to do ; this is not, however, the view the 

 anatomist ought to take of their position : to him the oblique 

 course of their component fibres, together with the slant of their 

 lammas, demonstrate that they slope in the same manner and 

 degree as the toe does. The quarters do not run in straight lines 

 from before backward, but by their prominence describe gentle 

 curves, the outer making a wider sweep than the inner. This 

 gives the hoof altogether a sort o^ Hoisted appearance, and makes 

 the inner part of the toe look more projecting than the outer: a 

 deviation that seems principally to have originated in the spiead, 

 and one, methinks, that has had more attention given it than any 

 consequences attachable to it render it deserving of. The quarters 

 range in depth from two to three inches ; and measure in thick- 

 ness from one-fourth to three-eighths of an inch. 



THE HEELS are the two protuberant portions of the wall by 

 which it is terminated posteriorly. They are the shallowest, and 

 thinnest, and {in connexion) only flexible parts of the wall. Though 

 their surfaces recede from the perpendicular, they maintain the 

 same slope as the toe and quarters. At their angles of inflection, 

 from which are continued the bars, they form (in conjunction 

 with the heels of the sole) pouches or sockets into which are 

 received the heels of the sensitive foot. In depth they range 

 from one and a-half to two inches. In substance they do not 

 exceed a quarter of an inch, the outer heel being rather thicker 

 than the inner. 



THE SUPERIOR or CORONARY BORDER, is the cir- 

 cular, attenuated, concavo-convex part entering into the compo- 

 sition of the coronet. Its extent is marked exteriorly by the 

 whitish aspect it exhibits, and also by some partial separation 



