EDITORIAL REMARKS. 
417 
The foot of the living animal, in respect to any action or motion 
observable in it, is to be considered under two different states, 
viz. in a state of rest, and in a state of motion. It would be, we 
think, a difficult matter to persuade anybody acquainted with the 
beautiful machinery of the horse’s foot—to which the hoof, like the 
case to the watch, forms but the covering—that such was designed 
to remain motionless, perfectly quiescent; and that it simply an¬ 
swered the purpose of attachment, or firm and inseparable union. 
And if he came to reflect upon the matter, and turn over all that 
he had seen in the interior of the foot in his mind, he would 
become full of apprehension that such delicate and complex me¬ 
chanism as the hoof contains would by concussion, every time 
the hoof came to the ground, be smashed to pieces. And if he 
were told this was guarded against by “ spring/’ would he not 
reply, “ then where there exists spring there must be motion; 
since we have no conception of one without the other I” Whether 
this motion be no more than a “ yielding” of parts, or whether it 
can be said to amount to what Professor Coleman called the 
“descent” and “ascent” of certain parts, is one question to be 
solved. Another is, what parts of the foot are susceptible of mo¬ 
tion. A third, under what circumstances does motion of them take 
place. 
It is hardly necessary for us to premise that the experiments we 
are about to analyse were made on the fore feet of horses; the 
hind, every veterinarian and horseman knows, are, comparatively, 
so rarely the seats of lameness or failing, that in inquiries like the 
present hardly any account is taken of them. 
Experiment I demonstrates, and Experiments IV and V, tend 
to confirm the fact, that so long as a horse is standing still, passively 
bearing his weight upon his feet, even though by lifting one foot 
the entire weight of the fore parts of the body is thrown upon the 
other, no expansion of those parts which we are given to believe 
are the readiest expansible, viz. the heels and quarters, though 
the hoof be unshod, takes place. This, as the result of a state of 
inaction, is no more than we should have anticipated. Whether 
the imposition of weight upon the animal—such as one or two 
mounted men—would have anv wise varied the result, still remains 
questionable. We suspect, however, that it would not. 
