PROFESSOR SPOONER’S ORATION. 
743 
rial, more elastic in its structure than any other part of the hoof. 
It is so situated that, in the natural gait of the animal, unpro- 
tected by a shoe, it is liable to be brought into contact with the 
ground at every step ; but, considering the hard state of the roads 
on which the horse is compelled to travel, -it is sometimes sub- 
jected to too much battering, while, on the other hand, from the 
great elevation of the heel of the shoe, it is frequently altogether 
deprived of the natural stimulus to its healthy secretion, namely, 
pressure from below, and, consequently, this part of the hoof of 
the aged horse is rarely or never found in its perfect state. 
Thus again we see that Nature never errs. She always forms 
an organ for a specific function ; and it is necessary, in order to 
keep it in health, that it should be called upon to perform that 
function. A part is just as liable to become diseased in conse- 
quence of not being used for the purposes for which Nature de- 
signed it, as it is from being called on to do more than she has 
destined it to perform. These, in fact, are the two grand causes 
of the structural and functional derangement to which the ani- 
mal body is subjected. This part of the foot of the horse — the 
frog — bears a striking analogy to the under-surface of the foot of 
most other hoofed animals, having no concavity of sole. It is an 
elastic, yielding cushion. I am not. now going into a full de- 
scription of all that I could state to you respecting its peculiar 
functions, so intimately connected with the economy of the ani- 
mal ; I merely wish to impress upon you the importance of its 
convexity below, and the necessity of its receiving pressure from 
the ground in order to keep it in a perfect state of health. 
With reference to the structure of the hoof of the horse and that 
of cloven-footed animals, we here see that Nature has not only 
conducted her arrangements in order to obtain perfection of the 
foot itself, but we shall be enabled to trace how beautifully, in 
the upper part of the limb, she has also guarded against in- 
jury. Here is the leg of a ruminant animal. Observe how 
different the bones of the knee are from those of the horse. 
There are not so many of them, and they are not so intricately 
constructed in their connexion with each other as to possess the 
same degree of yielding and moving action for the purpose of 
warding off concussion. Let us go below the knee. We perceive 
that the animal before us has only a single bone — the large me- 
tacarpal bone. This single bone receiving the weight of the knee 
conveys it to the parts below ; and, having arrived there, we reach 
that peculiar structure which gives to this animal the additional 
elasticity of foot which he possesses over that of the horse. 
Thus we see the wisdom of Nature in the arrangement of the 
structure of these parts, — shewing us the non-necessity of that 
