ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF THE FOOT OF THE HORSE. 375 
of the heart was perfectly healthy; but on cutting into the right 
ventricle this cavity appeared almost filled up by a fungous can- 
cerous substance, of a whitish or rather greyish colour, growing, as 
it were, upwards from the apex of the heart towards the right auri- 
cle, and all but obliterating the passage to the lungs. The pul- 
monary circulation must have been impeded for a long time by this 
scirrhous substance, which, continuing to grow, at length proved a 
complete obstacle ; and, of course produced a fatal effect, which, 
indeed, was rather surprising that it did not supervene before. 
This case, I think, deserves to be recorded from its extreme 
rarity. I remember meeting, some years ago, with a remarkable 
case of cancer and scirrhus of the heart, which was enormously 
enlarged and altogether altered in its shape, and I believe the 
case is recorded in a former volume of this Journal. In this in- 
stance the left ventricle was greatly diseased, and the peculiar and 
laboured action of the heart, together with the want of synchronism 
between it and the pulse, the latter being weak and the former 
strong and thumping, assured me (previous to death) that the heart 
was the seat of disease. In the colt, however, the absence of mor- 
bid changes in the left ventricle explains the fact why the general 
circulation should be comparatively unaffected. At the same time, 
the imperfect manner in which the proper changes must have been 
effected in the blood from the great obstruction in the pulmonary 
circulation will, I take it, sufficiently account for the obscure and 
fluctuating symptoms of disease exhibited during life. 
ON THE ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF THE 
LAMINATED STRUCTURES OF THE FOOT OF 
THE HORSE. 
By Thomas Wright, M.R.C.V.S . , Brighton . 
The subject which I purpose investigating in this paper is one 
of no small importance to us when considered in a pathological 
point of view ; for a true and correct knowledge of the anatomy and 
physiology of healthy structures is the only data from which we 
can hope, with any thing like certainty, to obtain such inferences 
as shall guide us in the treatment of them when diseased. The 
variety, and, too often, incurability, of the diseases so frequently 
found by us affecting the laminated structures of the horse’s foot, 
will, I am certain, be a sufficient excuse for my venturing to offer for 
your consideration some remarks on those parts, although perhaps 
