CHAPTER XVIII. 



THE FOOT. 



Veterinary literature has been remarkably barren on every 

 other subject than the foot and shoeing. It was natural, 

 perhaps, that this subject should excite considerable interest, 

 considering its vast importance. 



The first thing which strikes one in the foot is its re- 

 markably small size in proportion to the size of the body. 

 Comparing the horse's foot, so far as size is concerned, with 

 our own, the advantage in the majority of cases lies on the 

 side of the biped. The most interesting fact which physi- 

 ology has to demonstrate is that, though the foot presents 

 a small circumference, in reality it encloses a vast area, due 

 to the anatomical arrangement of the parts. 



The amount of moisture contained in the horn of the foot 

 is something considerable, and the rate at which it evapo- 

 rates is quite extraordinary. If portions of the frog be 

 enclosed in a bottle, in a short time the interior will become 

 bedewed with moisture. The use of this moisture is to 

 keep the foot elastic and prevent it from becoming brittle, 

 and the agencies which are at work to assist this are a 

 coating over the wall of a thin varnish-like layer of horn, 

 which can only be seen in the unmutilated foot, and in the 

 case of the sole by the layers of exfoliated material which 

 accumulate as the result of the shedding of the superficial 

 layers. 



We are bound to recognise that horn containing but little 

 moisture is in an abnormal condition ; it is rigid and brittle, 

 nails driven into the part cause it to crack, and that 



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