Some account of the circulation of the blood in the foot of the horse / by B.C.

  • Bracy Clark
Date:
1842
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Some account of the circulation of the blood in the foot of the horse / by B.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    8/8 page 8
    seen overlaying these in no definite order, and this singular mass we have proposed, till a better name be found, to designate as the Vena; conglomerate or cumulate, by which we may at all times refer to them without a troublesome circumlocution, or fear of a mistake. The immense transverse undulating vein beneath the sesamoids is also entering the above mass, connecting very usefully the two circulations of the opposite sides of the foot. These veins on the inside of the cartilage, meeting an immense distribution also from the outside of the cartilage, also from under and over the extensor tendon, near the back head of the coronet bone and uppermost point of the superior margin of the cartilage, unite, to form a few considerable trunks, which, passing up the pastern bone, and there meeting and ac- companying the artery, form into a solitary single trunk at the shank, and terminate our humble account. These astonishing assemblages of veins, inside and outside of the cartilage, we are ready to conclude may be destined usefully to guard and protect these parts which are almost in them- selves destitute of blood in their interior structure, from the effects of cold or of sudden chills in the more northern regions of the world, and from the destructive overcharge of heat and dry- ness perhaps, when exposed to the scorching sands of Arabia or of Egypt, or the sirocco of the desert; and these cartilages, probably moving, or ought at least to move, at every step of the animal, are assisting in promoting the due circulation of the blood in this remarkable organ. A vast multiplication of veins are streaming in clusters down the outside of the lateral car- tilage, covering nearly its surface, and whose origin or source will escape a casual inspection, are fed perhaps from the cutaneous arteries and those of the cutidura. We may here also remark, that we possess coffin bones very smooth and having very few external foramina indeed, and what there are are also very small. Can this be the natural state of the bone, or has it been the work of the iron compress, called a shoe, closing the ves- sels and diminishing their foramina ? There is also one point unascertained, which we leave for future inquirers. For on ex- amining many coffin bones, especially of large hoi’ses, there is seen, especially on the inner quarter, a channel or groove advancing nearly in a straight line directed upwards from the sharp inferior edges of the bone, and is situated just anterior to the square plate of bone which is covering over the perforation of the retros. Now, whether this be the recipient of an artery or of a vein, whence it comes or whither it goes, we know not, and leave it as a pleasing task for others to solve, who may feel an interest in entering upon these useful pursuits. RICHARDS, 100, ST. martin’s lane.
    No text description is available for this image
    No text description is available for this image
    No text description is available for this image