426 PLANTAR SYSTEM. 



tain some singular notions m regard to the structure, but more 

 particularly the uses of this part ; which in the respect I bear for 

 their author, I shall consider when the time may arrive for me 

 to treat of the physiology of the foot. 



THE INFERIOR or SOLAR BORDER offers but httle 

 worthy of observation. It constitutes the ground or wearing sur- 

 face of the wall, and is the part to which we nail the shoe. It 

 grows thicker and more exuberant around the toe than in other 

 places, and from its projecting beyond the sole, presents a conve- 

 nient and suitable hold for the nails of the shoe. Around the 

 anterior and lateral parts, it embraces the sole; behind, it joins 

 the bars, which two points of union form two principal bearing 

 places for the shoe. The inferior border possesses a larger cir- 

 cumference than the superior, in consequence of the oblique de- 

 truncation of the hoof. 



This is a part that requires paring down every time the horse 

 is shod. Such is its exuberating nature, that (like the human 

 nail), were it not continually kept worn down, or broken or cut off, 

 it would elongate very considerably, and gradually turn up, 

 exhibiting forms not only of the most unsightly but even gro- 

 tesque description, and proving incommodious to a degree to be 

 almost entirely destructive of progression. 



THE LAMINjE (better named lamella,) consist of numerous 

 narrow thin plates or processes, arranged with the nicest order 

 and mathematical precision upon the internal surface of the wall. 

 They extend, in uniform parallels, in a perpendicular direction 

 from the lower edge of the superior border down to the line of 

 junction of the wall with the sole; and are so thickly set, 

 that no part of the superficies remains unoccupied by them. 

 They are likewise continued upon the surfaces of the bars. In 

 the recent subject they are found soft, yielding, and elastic ; but 

 from exposure they become dry and rigid. 



Every lamella exhibits two edges and 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 enormous extent ; so much so 

 that it might be said almost to be constituted entirely of super- 

 ficies. And this leads us to the contemplation 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 procured from the late Thos. 

 Evans, LL.D , mathematical teacher of Christ's Hospital, a cal- 

 culation of what their united superficies amounted to ; and it 



