STRUCTURE OF THE FOOT. 257 



these plates; and they are of service in preventing 

 that concussion which, if unopposed, would speedily 

 destroy the whole mechanism of the foot. The union 

 of the horny and membraneous plates gives strength ; 

 while the yielding of both substances affords elasticity 

 to the motion. 



The construction of the back of the foot is more 

 complicated. The pastern takes an oblique direction 

 backward. This obliquity is designed also to obviate 

 concussion; it varies the different directions of the 

 force. In the blood-horse the tuft of hair at the fet- 

 lock will often be in contact with the ground ; giving- 

 easiness of motion to the whole machine. The long 

 pasterns of the race-horse suit the springiness of his 

 action and the length of his stride; the medium ob- 

 liquity of the pasterns of the hunter is adapted to the 

 occasional speed and the untiring endurance which 

 are required from him in the field ; and the compara- 

 tively upright position of the pasterns in the road- 

 horse fits him for his daily task. There is, in the 

 last animal, sufficient obliquity to insure some plea- 

 santness of action, but not enough to endanger the 

 continuance of the pace. 



The two principal of the flexor tendons, the tendons 

 by which the leg is principally bent, run along the 

 back of the pastern-bones. One of them is continued 

 low down, and is inserted into the sole of the coffin- 

 bone. There must be a great deal of motion and 

 play in this tendon, with an equal exposure to injury; 

 and the back of the foot presents contrivance to pre- 

 vent the mischief that would otherwise certainly ensue. 

 First, there is the navicular-bone, situated behind the 

 coffin-bone; with the lower pastern-bone completing 



