56 ON THE NAVICULAR DISEASE. 



and requiring tlic utmost dilatation oC tlie organ ; 

 but 1 believe this delicate piece of mechanism suf- 

 fers from their baneful influence much more by 

 Baneful influ- glow dcffrces, wliilc the foot is in a quiescent state, 



enrc of the ^ ® \ * ' 



nails. during the animal's long confinement in the stable, 



as they mechanically assist in opposing the descent 

 of the lieels of the coffin bone, by their rigidity 

 against the wings of that bone; and therefore may 

 be considered as the first, if not the cliief, predispos- 

 ing cause of the equilihrium, or balance of weight, 

 being lost within the foot. 



