150 
REVIEW. 
Quid sit pulchrum, quid turpe, quid utile, quid non.—H or. 
Treatise on the Organization of the Foot of the. Horse, com¬ 
prising the Study of the Structure, Functions, and Diseases 
of that Organ. By M. Bouley. With an Atlas of 34 Litho¬ 
graphic Plates. Paris, 1851. Parts I & II. Fcap. 8vo, pp. 320. 
[ Concluded from p. 91. ] 
M. Bouley’S own theory of the Elasticity of the Hoof will 
become the subject of our present consideration. 
M. Bouley commences with the question —“ Is the elasti¬ 
city of the hoof a product of the mechanical arrangement of its 
component parts; or does it amount to no more than, what La- 
fosse estimated it at, a property inherent in the substance of the 
horn itselfl” In answer to which question, he argues:— 
“ That the very construction of the horny box is such as to 
convince even a superficial observer, it was not designed to 
remain immutable in form. Had the hoof been intended as a 
fixture, it would have been better that the wall, in which its 
strength principally resides, should have been made a perfect 
cylinder. Whereas, we find it cleft and divided posteriorly 
into two great halves, between which is interposed a body of a 
supple nature, the frog; a construction affording strong pre¬ 
sumptive evidence of the hoof being a body susceptible of a 
certain kind or degree of motion within itself. 
“ That, in its normal condition of form and structure, when 
first it comes to tread the ground, the inferior border of the 
wall, with the peripheral margin of the sole, are the only parts 
that take any bearing; the frog, the bars, and the middle of the 
sole, remaining elevated above the ground: a circumstance 
which would lead us to believe that the void left below was for 
the purpose of permitting their descent under the operation of 
augmented weight or pressure. Though these be no more than 
conjectures, arising out of reflections prompted by the physical 
construction of the hoof, yet do such conjectures become certi¬ 
tudes when we consider the phenomena observable in the 
hoof in action. At the moment the heels of the hoof come to 
the ground, we observe them, in their entire length, approach 
each other with great exactitude, and separate again as soon as 
the foot quits the ground. What better proof can we desire of 
