176 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HORSE’S FOOT. 
branches of the perforatus or superficial flexor tendon of the 
foot are inserted. Laterally, the bone is roughened and 
covered with eminences or depression for the insertion of 
powerful retaining ligaments. On this bone the whole weight 
of the body is thrown from above and transmitted to the 
bone or bones below. 
The Pedal Bone. — The third phalanx, pedal bone, coffin 
bone, or os pedis of the English, os du pied of the French, 
Fig. 4. 
Pedal bone. a. Pyramidal eminence or process, b. Imprint at its base 
for the insertion of the extensor tendon of the foot. c. Anterior 
surface, roughened for the attachment of the laminal tissue, and 
pierced with vascular openings, d. Inferior margin or border of the 
bone. e. Superior margin or border, f Surface for articulation with 
the small pastern bone or second phalanx, g. Surface for articulation 
with the anterior face of navicular bone. h. Depression for the 
attachment of the anterior lateral ligament, i. Basilar process. 
j. Preplantar fissure, k. Patilobe eminence or process. 1. Retrossal 
process. 
hufbein of the Germans, and ungual phalanx of the compara- 
tive anatomist (fig. 4) is, in an anatomical and physiological 
point of view, and by reason of its situation, its functions, 
and its relations, in health as well as in disease, a most in- 
teresting portion of the horse’s foot to study, and affords 
ample compensation for the time it requires to gain an 
intimate knowledge of its character. 
Forming the nucleus or core, as it were, on which the hoof 
is moulded, and occupying about three fourths of the cavity 
of that envelope, i^ its external configuration it bears a good 
deal of resemblance to the horny covering itself, — being 
more or less a segment of a cone, irregularly and obliquely 
truncated from before to behind. By its form, structure, and 
relations, it is admirably designed to assist in carrying on 
