10 PHYSIOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS ON THE FORE FOOT. 
rendered utterly useless, he rose from the operation sound 
in action, and remained so (on that limb) as long as he was 
with the troop, w 7 hich I believe was for about two years, when 
he was, for other reasons, cast. 
[We thank Mr. Holloway for the illustrative drawings that 
accompanied this case of navicular disease. They are very 
neatly executed, but as they show no new 7 pathological change 
or lesion, the necessity of a woodcut is superseded by his 
graphic description.] 
PHYSIOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS ON THE POSI- 
TION ASSUMED BY THE FORE FOOT OF THE 
HORSE IN THE VARIED MOVEMENTS OF THE 
LIMB. 
By J. T. Lupton, Student of Veterinary Medicine, R.V.C. 
1. The foot of a living horse in a state of rest remains 
firmly on the ground, that is, the toe and the heel are on 
the ground at one and the same time ; but if during this 
position the extensor muscles w T ere to contract, then the toe 
wmuld be raised from the ground ; and if, on the other hand, 
the flexor muscles were to contract, then the heel w’ould be 
raised from the ground. Now, during progression, the first 
movement which takes place is the contraction of the flexor 
muscles, by wdiich (together w 7 ith the muscles of the arm) 
the foot is raised, the toe being the last part of that organ 
raised from the ground. The foot is now in a position to be 
sent forward, which is brought about by the contraction of 
the extensor muscles ; the foot is then throwm out as far as 
the flexor muscles will admit, and when at the greatest al- 
lowable point of tension, the heel is brought in apposition 
with the ground. The flexors now’ in their turn contract, 
the heel is first raised from the ground, and lastly the toe, 
which brings me back to the point I started from. 
2. Viewing the leg of a horse as a piece of mechanism 
(allowing that leg to be even in a state of anchylosis), and 
comparing it to the spoke of a wheel, during the revolutions 
of which the posterior part of the inferior extremity, or, in 
other words, that part w r hich is attached to the tier, comes 
in contact with the ground first; but if in the place of the 
spoke the above-mentioned leg of the horse were there 
