41 



abundantly testify." This is all the refutation he has con- 

 descended to give to this alleged error. Supposing it to be an 

 'error; it can hardly be expected, that those who are accus- 

 tomed to do their own thinking, to weigh the opinions of others 

 for themselves, and to rely on their own pathological experience, 

 when they have any, will readily abandon their opinions with- 

 out a single reason being advanced or a particle of evidence 

 adduced to show that they are erroneous, beyond the mere 

 ipse dixit of any writer, however eminent he may be as an 

 authority in some respects. I repeat, the principal function of 

 the coronary ligament is to secrete the fibrous portion of the 

 wall. It is extremely vascular and highly elastic. The for- 

 mer quality is necessary to supply the demands of rapid wear 

 and tear to which the wall is subject especially in the unshod 

 foot, and to maintain the integrity of the structure it secretes ; 

 the latter to adapt it to the expansive and contractile move- 

 ments of the foot when in action, or when weight is super- 

 imposed upon, or removed from the limb. Although in appear- 

 ance a thickening of the terminal portion of the skin, it has a 

 peculiar and distinct organization to adapt it to its very im- 

 portant purposes. The inner layer is a strong white elastic 

 structure which forms its principal thickness. Upon this 

 reposes a very numerous accumulation of blood-vessels, and 

 external to these a thin coat from which proceed the secreting 

 villi of the wall. The attachments of these villi in the living 

 structure must be of a very powerful nature, as there is no 

 other visible connection between the hoof and the skin except 

 the areolar or connective tissue, which bind it but in no very 

 especial manner to all the subjacent structures. The growth 

 of the wall is in every respect similar to the growth of the 

 human nail. 



THE PERIOSTEAL AND ENDOSTEAL MEMBRANES. 



These structures are the dense white-fibrous and non-elastic 

 membranes, the former of which constitutes the external cover- 

 ing, and the latter the internal lining of bones. They are 



D 



