ANATOMY OF THE HORSE. 
309 
tain some singular notions in regard to the structure, but more 
particularly the uses of this part; which in the respect I bear for 
their author, I shall consider when the time may arrive for me 
to treat of the physiology of the foot. 
THE INFERIOR or SOLAR BORDER offers but little 
worthy of observation. It constitutes the ground or wearing sur¬ 
face of the wall, and is the part to which we nail the shoe. It 
grows thicker and more exuberant around the toe than in other 
places, and from its projecting beyond the sole, presents a conve¬ 
nient and suitable hold for the nails of the shoe. Around the 
anterior and lateral parts it embraces the sole; behind it joins 
the bars, which two points of union form two principal bearing 
places for the shoe. The inferior border possesses a larger cir¬ 
cumference than the superior, in consequence of the oblique de¬ 
truncation of the hoof. 
This is a part that requires paring down every time the horse 
is shod. Such is its exuberating nature, that (like the human 
nail), were it not continually kept worn down, or broken or cut off', 
it would elongate very considerably, and then gradually turn up, 
exhibiting forms not only of the most unsightly but even gro¬ 
tesque description, and proving incommodious to a degree to be 
almost entirely destructive of progression. 
THE LAMINAE (better named lamella) consist of numerous 
narrow' thin plates or processes, arranged with the nicest order 
and mathematical precision upon the internal surface of the wall. 
They extend, in uniform parallels, in a perpendicular direction 
from the lower edge of the superior border down to the line of 
junction of the wall with the sole; and are so thickly set at 
their origin, that no part of the superficies remains unoccupied 
by them. They are likewise continued upon the surfaces of the 
bars. In the recent subject they are found soft, yielding, and 
elastic ; but from exposure they become dry and rigid. 
Every lamella exhibits two edges and two surfaces. By one 
edge it grows to the wall; the other, which is somewhat attenu¬ 
ated, hangs loose and floating within the cavity of the hoof. The 
surfaces, which are two lateral, are smooth, and, considering the 
magnitude of the lamella itself, of enormous extent; so much so 
that it might be said almost to be constituted entirely of super¬ 
ficies. And this leads us to the contemplation of part of the 
great and magnificent design Nature evidently had in view in 
their formation, viz., the production of ample surface within a 
small space, an end that has been obtained through the means ol 
multiplication. Mr. Bracy Clark procured from the late Thos. 
Evans, LL.D., mathematical teacher of Christ’s Hospital, a cal¬ 
culation of what their united superficies amounted to; and it 
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