The management and treatment of the horse in the stable, field, and ...

80 The Management and Treatment of the Horse,
and two surfaces ; by one edge it grows to the wall, and
the other, which is somewhat thinned, hangs loose and
floating within the cavity of the hoof. These are two
smooth lateral surfaces, and considering the magnitude
of the lamilla itself, of enormous extent, so much so that
it may be said almost to be constituted of superfices.
If we look carefully at the beautiful lamilla lining the
foot we must naturally be led to contemplate the
great and magnificent designs which Nature evidently
had in their formation and very beautiful adaptation,
viz., the production of ample surface within a small
space, an end that has been obtained by the
means of multiplication. The late well-known
Thomas Evans, LL.D., made a mathematical calcula-
tion of what the united superfices of these lamilla
amounted to, and it was found that they afforded an
increase of actual surface more than the single
internal area of the hoof would give by about twelve
times, or about two hundred and twelve square inches^
being nearly one square foot and a-half. It is inflam-
mation among this network of delicate mushroom-like
fibres that we call laminitis, the destruction of which
by disease allows the coffin-bone to drop upon the
sensitive sole, the sole in its turn giving way and
becoming what is termed drop sole or pumiced feet.
The bars are processes ot the wall, inflected from its
heels obliquely across the bottom of the foot ; they
extend from the base of the heel into the centre of the
foot, between the sole and the frog. 1 hey are con-
tinuous with the wall or crust with which they form
acute angles ; anteriorly they stretch as far as the point