36 THE ANATOMY OP THE HORSE. 



The Wall is that part of the hoof which is exi^osed when the foot 

 rests in its natural position on a flat surface. It is divided, though 

 not by any well-defined boundaries, into toe, quarters, and heels. The toe 

 includes an area on each side of the middle line of the wall in front r 

 and it passes on each side into the qum-ter, which comprises the latere 

 region of the wall. Posteriorly the wall changes its direction, an^. 

 disappears from view, forming an angular part, which is termed the heel. ■ 

 In reality, the wall does not stop at the heel, and it is this concealed 

 continuatioti that ik termed the bar. In a well-formed hoof the wall ir 

 the region of the toe slopes at an angle of about 50°. / *• 



The External Surface of the wall is, in a state of nature, covered by a ,' 

 kind 9f epithelial varnish termed the seriople. which is thickest at the 

 top of the wall, just under the hair. This, which is a natural varnis^ , 

 provided to check evaporation and consequent cracking of the subjacenc 

 horn, is generally rasped away by the shoeing-smith. The internal sur- j 

 face of the wall is traversed in a vertical direction by the series of horny ] 

 lamince. These number about five or six hundred ; and before separa- ! 

 tion of the hoof, they were interleaved with the sensitive laminse to be ! 

 presently described. The svp(f"ior border of the wall shows a kind of j. 

 gutter, termed the cutiperal groove., which is the mould left by the i j 

 coronary cushion. The floor of this groove has a closely punctated' ' 

 appearance, each minute perforation being the upper end of one of the ' 

 horn tubes of the wall, and lodging, in the natural ■ state, one of tbf 

 papillae of the coronary cushion. The inferior border embraces the r, 

 sole, and in the unshod animal comes ipto contact with the gTou.nd. 



The wall is thicker at the toe than at the quarters or heels ; and in ' 

 each of these areas, it is thicker on the outside than in the correspond- ( 

 ing area on the inside. 



The Baes. These are the reflected terminations of the wall behind the 

 heels; and if the foot be turned up, the continuity will be distinctlj' seen. 



The Outer Surface of the bar, which is here seen, slopes towards the 

 frog, and bounds outwardly the lateral lacuna of that body. It shows 

 an inferior border, which runs towards the centre of the sole, but stops 

 a little behind the point of the frog. The bars are also seen in the 

 interior of the hoof, where they show an internal surface bearing hornv ' 

 laminae like those of the wall. The su2Jerior border of the bars is 

 included between the frog and the sole, and blended with them. 



The Sole presents an inferior face, which is vavilted, and this inde- 

 pendently of any paring to which the foot may have been subjected, as 

 the horn of which it is composed exfoliates so as to give it this con- 

 figuration naturally. The superior face is somewhat convex, and has 

 a punctated appearance similar to that already- seen in the cutigera^ 

 groove. The minute holes lodge the papillso of the so-called sensiti^ i 

 sole, which is the honi secreting structure of this region. Anteriorly 



