HORN 'irBES. 



83 



would be very liable to cut and lacerate the limbs upon their 

 inner surfaces. The outer half of the hoof differs also from 

 the inner in another respect : it contains a greater thickness 

 of horn. The importance of knowing this, and other peculiarities 

 of structure shortly to be described, will readily be perceived 

 by the reader, should he peruse the articles on Sandcrack, Talse 

 Quarter, and other diseases to which the horny substance is 

 liable. 



HoEW Tubes. — Those ignorant of the structure of the 

 hoof would naturally suppose it to be a solid mass of horn : an 

 examination of it, however, vsdth a common magnifying lens 



^ff Transverse Section of the 

 Hoof magnified six dior 



Fig. 9. 



a a a, Tlte Homy LaminEe 

 of the Hoof. 

 J 6 The Horn Tubes, of 

 which the hoof is 

 mainly composed. 



win at once prove the incorrectness of this idea. If the reader 

 will procure the hoof of a dead horse, and look carefully at the 

 coronary concavity, (see Kg. 8, letter J,) he will notice an 

 immense number of minute pores or openings. These are the 

 commencement of the horn tubes, which are continued from 

 the top to the bottom of the hoof ; the hoof in fact is a series 

 of minute cylinders or hollow tubes. These tubes exist in 

 immense numbers, are placed side by side, and traverse the 

 entire length, or rather depth of the horny mass. The animal, 



* This may be readily done by macerating the limb for some tim^ in 

 water, when the hoof by a httle force will easily separate from its connecting 

 tissues, and its tubular structure will be exposed. 



