ANATOMV OF THE HOUSE. 
807 
a half inches. The bow or degree of convexity of the toe in front 
must depend upon its obliquity as well as upon the circularity of 
the foot. The thickness of the horn composing the toe may be 
estimated at three eighths of an inch, or from that to half an inch, 
and this substance is the same from immediately beneath the 
coronary circle to the junction of the wall with the sole ; at which 
part there is an accession of horny matter to block up the inter¬ 
stices between the laminae, and also to fill the angular vacuity 
that would otherwise exist here between the wall and sole. In 
the forefeet, the toe is thicker in substance than either the quar¬ 
ters or heels : but (we have it from Sainbel) “ in the hind, on the 
contrary, the heels and quarters are generally thicker than the 
toe.” 
THE QUARTERS are the portions of the wall intermediate 
between the toe and the heels. They are commonly described as 
standing upright,^ and, according to a carpenter’s square setagainst 
the wall, so they appear to do; this is not, however, the view the 
anatomist ought to take of their position : to him the oblique 
course of their component fibres, together with the slant of their 
laminae, demonstrate that they slope in the same manner and 
degree as the toe does. The quarters do not run in straight lines 
from before backward, but by their prominence describe gentle 
curves, the outer making a wider sweep than the inner. This 
gives the hoof altogether a sort of twisted appearance, and makes 
the inner part of the toe look more projecting than the outer : a 
deviation that seems principally to have originated in the spread , 
and one, methinks, that has had more attention given it than any 
consequences attachable to it render it deserving of. The quarters 
range in depth from two to three inches; and measure in thick¬ 
ness from one-fourth to three-eighths of an inch. 
THE HEELS are the two protuberant portions of the wall by 
which it is terminated posteriorly. They are the shallowest and 
thinnest, and in situ only flexible parts of the wall. Though 
their surfaces recede from the perpendicular, they maintain the 
same slope as the toe and quarters. At their angles of inflection, 
from which are continued the bars, they form (in conjunction 
with the heels of the sole) pouches or sockets into which are 
received the heels of the sensitive foot. In depth they range 
from one and a-half to two inches. In substance they do not 
exceed a quarter of an inch, the outer heel being rather thicker 
than the inner. 
THE SUPERIOR or CORONARY BORDER, is the cir¬ 
cular, attenuated, concavo-convex part entering into the compo¬ 
sition of the coronet. Its extent is marked exteriorly by the 
whitish aspect it exhibits, and also by some partial separation 
