THE 
VETERINARIAN. 
VOL. XLIII. 
No. 512. 
AUGUST, 1870. 
Fourth Series. 
No. 188. 
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. 537.) 
In the previous paper, we briefly, and without entering into 
technical details, surveyed what may be termed the circula- 
tory or nutritive distribution of vessels at the extremity of 
the horse’s limb ; and this survey, however imperfect it may 
be, is necessary to enable us to form some conception as to 
the mode in which vitality, growth, and repair are main- 
tained in an organ so peculiarly constructed, and from which 
so much is demanded. It is also essential to the proper 
understanding of certain diseases which affect the foot, and 
the measures to be adopted to combat or avert them, that 
the extent, distribution, and relative disposition of these 
vessels should be thoroughly comprehended. 
The walls of arteries are, as is well known, so elastic that 
when cut across they retract for some distance within the cel- 
lular tissue that generally ensheaths them ; and being circular 
in shape when entire, they are so strong as to retain their 
form when so retracted. This elasticity and strength of the 
arterial walls are favorable to the propulsion of the blood, 
and these qualities are among the first to strike us as charac- 
teristic of the vessels in the foot; their thickness especially, 
which is very great when compared with their calibre. 
Another interesting feature in the pedal circulation, is the 
manner in which the larger canals supplying the organ with 
blood break up into innumerable effluents, which again gra- 
dually or suddenly diminish in size, but yet communicate with 
xliii. 40 
