70 THK ART OF IIORSE-SHOKING 



on unsheathing the weapons several diseased, con- 

 tracted feet appeared, and in contrastuig them with 

 healthy, open feet, I satisfactorily proved to a nu- 

 merous meeting of this Society, an unnatural posi- 

 tion or elevation of the coffin bone witJdn the hoof. 

 Assured of the frequency of the occurrence of this 

 altered position of the foot bone in feet which had 

 been shod, and particularly with those horses in 

 which the ordinary precautions for preserving the 

 elasticity of the horn, through caprice or neglect, 

 had been omitted, I am led from these data to the 

 following deductions : 1st, That the common method 

 instaniamous of affixiug tlic slioc by naiUug to both sides of the 

 function of the hoof has au immediate tendency to destroy the eqin- 



elastic laminae. ., . . , 



librium or just balance of the weight when conveyed 

 to the hoof. 



The five hundred elastic laminae or plates which 

 surround the coffin bone^ in conjunction with a 

 corresponding number of liorny laminae lining the 

 crust, are known to be the sustainers of the super- 

 incumbent weight in the unshod natural foot, by 

 forming a sort of dove-tailed union of immense 

 strength. These numerous elastic springs elongate 

 under the impression of the weight in direct ratio 

 to the momentum or force, and which is accompa- 

 nied with a corresponding relaxation or yielding of 

 the horny box throughout at the same instant; by 

 which concussion to the foot is obviated, and the 

 animal himself preserved from jar. 



On the other hand, we will suppose a three- 



