THE 
VETERINARIAN. 
VOL. XLIII. 
No. 511. 
JULY, 1870. 
Fourth Series. 
No. 187. 
Communications and Cases. 
OBSERVATIONS ON THE ANATOMY AND PHY- 
SIOLOGY OF THE HORSE'S FOOT. 
By George Fleming, M.R.C.V.S., Royal Engineers. 
(Continued from p. 431.) 
Blood-vessels and Nerves of the Foot . — The blood-vessels 
which go to and pass from the foot are chiefly remarkable for 
their number, their almost endless communications with each 
other, by which they form loops, arches, and circles laced 
and interlaced in the most intricate and surprising fashion : 
arteries coalescing with arteries, veins running into veins, 
and in such a manner that, unless the main branches some 
distance above the foot are interrupted, accidentally or in- 
tentionally, the circulation of blood is efficiently maintained 
by many independent communicating channels should the 
current be suspended in any of the minor tributaries. 
Arteries . — The chief arteries supplying the foot with the 
vital fluid are two in number — one running perpendicularly 
on each side of the fetlock, below which, on the front of the 
large pastern bone, branches are given off to form two sets 
of intercommunicating circles, one behind, the other before ; 
these are ceaselessly uniting by smaller vessels above and 
below tendons, ligaments, capsules, and sheaths of tendons, 
until the upper pastern bone is completely festooned with 
the tortuous wreaths, which diverge more or less over the 
coronary bone. 
The large trunks still continuing downwards, give rise to 
another beautiful series of inosculating twigs spread over the 
whole surface of the coronet. Nothing can be finer than 
xliii. 36 
