32 ON THE NAVICULAR DISEASE. 



turned thoroughly disgusted with him ; for, instead 

 of performing with liis wonted grace and elegance 

 in a firm, flat step, not only regardless of the weight 

 of his rider above, but equally as independent of 

 the stones below, he shuffled, broke frequently from 

 the walk into a jog, dropped occasionally, and now 

 and then dug his toe or pegged it against a stone, a 

 failing before unknown with this faultless animal. 

 Under these inauspicious circumstances, the style 

 of his slow trot, to a by-stander, would appear only 

 on a level with that of a sound horse possessing 

 merely the ordinary degree of action, so that the 

 owner would be the only person aware, from his 

 knowledge of the previous merits of this animal, 

 that he had lost any thing. Now, you will natu- 

 Loss of equiii- rally ask. What has he lost .? I answer, the equili- 



brium or na- _ . » i • /■ t 



turai adjust- 07'ium OF natuval admstment of the superincumbent 



ment of the su- , '^ J J. 



perincumbent iceiqht, the lamincB in front of the coffin bone sus- 

 taining an undue proportion, whilst the function of 

 the laminated structure of the bars and heels is 

 limited, or partially suspended. Hundreds of horses, 

 and even young ones, are annually sold in London 

 as sound which have suffered this deterioration, in 

 defiance of the most scrupulous examinations as to 

 soundness. 



Now you will contend that, in the case I have 

 proposed, of the horse being capable of trotting at 

 the rate of twenty miles an hour, or being a weight- 

 carrier up to the fleetest liounds, that he must pos- 



