706 
PANICS AMONG HORSES. 
interior of each tube is proved by the facility with which this 
portion can be stained with carmine, and also by their 
adhering to the retracted villus. 
It will, therefore, be seen that the villi serve a most im- 
portant purpose in the elaboration of the hoof by giving it its 
fibrous and tubular texture, as wherever they are present 
there the horn is so constituted. But, besides being inti- 
mately concerned in the generation of the fibres, they also 
act as moulds on which these receive their characteristic 
shape ; and another very important purpose they serve is, no 
doubt, the maintenance of the suppleness of the horn to the 
degree necessary for the proper exercise of its functions, by 
pouring out into its canals a sufficient supply of moisture and 
oily matter. For it must be noted that it is only in the hoofs 
of the horse and other ungulated creatures that horn tubes are 
found. Hoofs require a certain amount of suppleness and 
toughness, as well as solidity, to enable them to resist the 
strain of locomotion — qualities but little needed in horny 
growths on other parts of the body ; and the tubular construc- 
tion of the fibres, while it does not impair the resisting 
power of the hoof, tends to lighten its mass very con- 
siderably. 
It may, then, be briefly stated that the villi of the horse’s 
foot are essential instruments in the secretion and formation 
of the fibrous portion of the hoof, and endow that envelope 
with the qualities of solidity, elasticity, and lightness, to a 
degree eminently characteristic and serviceable. 
PANICS AMONG HORSES. 
By G. Fleming, M.R.C.Y.S., Royal Engineers. 
It would appear that, though we are a horse-loving and a 
horse-rearing nation, and though we justly claim to know 
more about the noble quadruped than any other people, yet 
we do not understand him so thoroughly as to give him credit 
for some eccentricities which sometimes stand out in very 
salient relief from his otherwise amiable and sensible de- 
meanour, and which might not unfrequently entitle him to 
be looked upon as an unreasonable and dangerous creature. 
One of these eccentricities is his liability to become panic- 
stricken, and when in that state to act like a mad animal ; 
and it is our forgetfulness or ignorance of this fact that has 
