THE WORKS OF FOREIGN VETERINARY WRITERS. xi 



examining the inner surface of the hoof, we find it extremely- 

 thin in its upper part, and presenting a sort of circular oroove 

 {iin sorte de biseau)." This blunder has been noticed bv the 

 translator of Mr. Clark's work, and M. Jauze attempts to pass it 

 off as an error of the press ; for, in the third part of this work, 

 which was published some time after the first, there is a list of 

 errors, in which the word come is substituted for graisseux. 

 There is also a reply to some observations on AI. Jauze's book, 

 by M. Huzard ; but it is evident, from the above quotation from 

 Bourgelat, that the coronary frog band of Mr. Clark was not 

 noticed by that eminent veterinarian, nor is there any descrip- 

 tion of it in his other works, or in the " Traite du Pied" of Pro- 

 fessor Girard. " Mr. Clark," he says, " has erred in many 

 other passages (dans une infinitey Page 28., line 1., he says, 

 " In the foot of the ox there is neither pad nor cushion to 

 diminish the reaction of the ground. (/? ny a ni matelas ni 

 coussin pour jjallier les reactions du sol)." He is in error also 

 when he states that the camel and the elephant have a cartila- 

 ginous pad on the under part of their feet. Now, in ^Ir. 

 Clark's work, p. 119., the reader will find the matter thus stated : 

 — "Indeed, we discover, most clearly, on investigation, that to 

 every animal is given a share of elastic yielding to the foot, in 

 order to destroy all jar and resistance, reciprocally to the ])arts 

 of the foot as to the body, and a change of form takes place in 

 the foot according to the weight or exertion brought upon it. 

 In the elephant, cartilafjinous cushions, for this purpose, are seen 

 disposed under the foot, and in the camel oblong pads ; in the ox 

 this non-resistance to the load is effected by a deep division of the 

 foot to the fetlock joint, thus mahiwj of it two viembers, thereby 

 giving a flexibility that answers the same end. In the horse, a 

 single pad is seen, for of such nature is the frog ; and this yield- 

 ing property in the foot of him and his tribe, or famil)', is less, 

 perhaps, than any other family of quadrupeds, on account, it 

 would appear, of the dithcult combination of properties found 

 with him, viz., an extraordinary degree of speed with a laro-e or 

 heavy body, which, to be impelled with effect, required parts 

 that should not be too yielding, by which the impulse had been 

 diminished, and hence it is that this property has been nearly 

 overlooked, and the foot treated by the smiths as though this 

 necessary provision and property had in him no existence more 

 than in a mass of wood of the same figure." It appeared ne- 

 cessary to transcribe the whole of the passage from JNIr. Clark's 

 Avork, that the reader may form a just estimate of M. Jauze's 

 criticism. 



Mr. Clark is accused of another error in saying that "the 

 thickness of the wall of the hoof diminishes from the front to the 

 back part." There may be some few exceptions to this rule. 



