450 DISSECTION OF A HOOF. [BOOK III. 



houses, rectifier's premises, &c, must soften the 

 hoofs, and indispose them for immediate concussion 

 over the rough stones of our paved streets. 



He will also thus discern why we advise, in 

 certain cases, the enveloping the whole foot when- 

 ever the application of a poultice becomes necessary 

 to any part of it. 



On completing the section, he will discover two 

 branch arteries which, descending into the foot at 

 the coronet near the quarters, have supplied the 

 coffin-bone (a), that occupies the cavity of the horny 

 hoof, with fine blood for its fructification. In other 

 words, the formation of new horn is derived from 

 the blood, which is sent hither in good quantity, 

 and pervades the internal part of the coffin-bone in 

 particular. In this bone the operator will perceive 

 a cavity, or rather three hollow-caverns communi- 

 cating with each other, in which the horny matter 

 is generated. Or, probably, this is the reservoir 

 for preparing such particles of blood as are suited 

 to the formation of hoof, as it may be required 

 and called for by the process of nature, and the 

 demands of wear and tear, of rasping and drawing, 

 all which must subtract from its quantity, and leave 

 the bone comparatively hollow, and less fit for 

 resisting the hard concussion to which it is liable at 

 every step. This fact may be ascertained by keep- 

 ing a bisected foot for a few months, when the 

 moisture having left it in great measure, in the 

 cavity of the coffin-bone will be found a yellowish 

 glutinous substance, precisely of the same nature 



