32 



THE PEDESTAL OF THE COLUMN. 



2. It is the last bone of the series, which compose the sup- 

 porting structures of the limb ; the pedestal of the column that 

 carries the superstructure. It therefore spreads out in accord- 

 ance with the principle of mechanics which requires a sup- 

 porting base of wider proportions than the shaft it sustains, in 

 order to give stability to the vertical position. 



A REMARKABLY CONSTRUCTED BONE. 



3. This bone is constructed upon the plan of a double arch. 

 It is a well known physical law that the arched form affords 

 the greater degree of strength with the least weight. 



The arched form of the sole resembles the concaved surface 

 of a dished wheel with its concave surface facing the ground. 



The archiform parieties of the bone are the best calculated 

 to resist forces acting against it in various directions from 

 which dangers may come, and combines the lightness neces- 

 sary for speed with the strength essential to endurance, and 

 protection to the exceedingly delicate structures and processes 

 within it. 



ESSENTIAL IMPORTANCE OF THE FOOT. 



The safety of the horse in his natural state, depending more 

 upon his capabilities for flight than upon the resources of strat- 

 agem, this bone appears to have been designed primarily for 

 that object. " No foot, no horse," seems to have been the motto 

 of its Designer. Double walls enguard the brain from external 

 accidents. Arched ribs enclose and shield the heart and lungs 

 from many outward casualties. Scarcely less inferior in im- 

 portance to the safety of the animal, is the organ of flight par 

 excellence, and that is endowed with a doubly vaulted bone, 

 that receives within the protecting segis of its recesses a won- 

 derful assemblage of arteries, capillaries, veins, nerves, and 

 absorbents from whence they emerge in various directions to 

 play the part assigned them in the general economy. 



