EXPANSION OF THE HOUSE’S FOOT. 
263 
under other circumstances, as when the heels are sprung, or in the 
unshod state. The laminae, with their immensely extended circum¬ 
ference in a healthy foot, appear to be fully able to sustain the 
weight of the animal, which is readily shewn by very many of 
these experiments, and by the old operation of drawing a horse’s 
sole, when the whole weight of the animal is readily sustained by 
them. The laminae are nearly, or perhaps altogether, inelastic in 
their longitudinal direction; but they appear to be elastic in the 
transverse direction, so as to admit of yielding back on one ano¬ 
ther. If the sole descends in the manner usually explained, I 
cannot see how circulation is to go on during all the time the animal 
is standing, although Nature has beautifully provided against the 
possibility of obstruction of the blood in its course by the arteries 
transversing the coffin-bone (which is the most porous in the body), 
by the anastomoses of the arteries, by the circulus arteriosus, and 
the veins possessing no valves; but all these beautiful provisions 
of Nature I am inclined to look upon as expedients against acci¬ 
dental circumstances, and not as the means whereby circulation is 
carried on. The conformation of the foot, which is wider below 
than above, renders it difficult, if not impossible, for expansion to 
take place at its ground surface; thus, in laminitis we find the foot 
slip through, but still not expanded at, the quarters. Again, how 
often are the heaviest cart-horses obliged to be shod with clips and 
counter-clips all round, and still with no impediment to the action 
of the foot! Mr. Goodwin, Veterinary Surgeon to the Queen, has 
a most interesting specimen in his museum : it is the foot of a 
carriage horse which worked always perfectly sound up to the day 
of his death. This horse had a seedy toe, and there existed a 
swelling on the inside of the hoof, with a corresponding depression 
in the coffin-bone, and the laminae were not diseased. Now, how 
could descent of the coffin-bone take place in this case, except 
under circumstances of extraordinary pain and lameness 1 When 
we use a bar shoe, the heels can descend through the elasticity of 
the frog ; and how many horses can travel only with a bar shoe ! My 
impression and conviction is, that horses with good feet, moderately 
concave, will bear a certain amount of pressure at the anterior part 
of the sole with advantage, and that a shoe with a fiat upper 
surface is often highly advantageous. I have also seen many 
horses with flat or pumiced feet greatly improved by aflat bearing 
or support on the sole, thus relieving the laminae : these horses 
will, perhaps, travel badly at first, but gradually improve as the 
horn of the sole grows thick and strong; while some horses, again, 
under particular states of the feet, are immediately improved by the 
bearing of the shoe partly on the sole, thus relieving the laminae. 
Uneven pressure on the sole will cause lameness immediately, as 
