ANATOMY OF THE FOOT. 181 



them binders^ and cut them away in order to 

 open the heels, as they term it. This prac- 

 tice, however, is not now so frequent as it 

 used to be. (See Plate 1, Fig. 2, and Plate 6.) 



Having finished our description of the hoof, 

 we shall proceed to describe the internal or 

 sensible foot, which is represented in Plate 5 *, 

 as it appears when recently taken from the 

 hoof, the arteries having been injected with 

 wax red coloured. 



All the parts of which the internal foot is 

 composed are, as we have before observed, 

 endued with great sensibility ; and so nicely 

 is it adapted to the cavity of the hoof, that it- 

 completely fills it, without suffering the least 

 inconvenience from pressure ; but when the 

 foot has been improperly treated ; when tlie 

 frog has been deprived of its hard surface for 

 the purpose of giving it what farriers conceive 

 a neat and fashionable appearance (as if Na- 

 ture had been so clumsy in this part of her 

 work, as to require a })o!ish from the hands of 

 these ingenious gentlemen); when the frog 

 has been thus mutilated, the bars destroyed, 

 and shoes applied that are either turned up or 



* Frontispiece. 



