The exterior of the horse . l muscles of the croup and thethigh, Avhich Professor Lemoigne justlyregards as a key to the rigidity of themember,—a key without which all theother extensors would be deprived of theirfulcrum or point of support.^ It seemsthat there exists here an enormous contra-diction between the means at the disposalof the organism and the effects which it isto produce. This inconsistency is only apparent,and disappears as soon as we examine themcxle of proceeding by which the extensionof the hock is effected. By reason of theconnections which exist between the femurand the cal
The exterior of the horse . l muscles of the croup and thethigh, Avhich Professor Lemoigne justlyregards as a key to the rigidity of themember,—a key without which all theother extensors would be deprived of theirfulcrum or point of support.^ It seemsthat there exists here an enormous contra-diction between the means at the disposalof the organism and the effects which it isto produce. This inconsistency is only apparent,and disappears as soon as we examine themcxle of proceeding by which the extensionof the hock is effected. By reason of theconnections which exist between the femurand the calcaneus, through the interven-tion of the cord ah (Fig. 78), the opening of the femoro-tibial anglecannot take place without producing coincidently and in the same pro-portion the opening of the tibio-tarsal angle. As the opening of the former may depend upon the straigliteningof the femur or of the tibia, under the influence of their jiroper exten-sors, ef, cd, it follows that all muscular traction exerted en the sununit,. Fig. 78. Ï A. Lemoigne, Note communiquûe. 260 THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. e, of the trochanter, or on the summit, e, of the patella, is communi-cated also in the same sense and with an equal intensity to the summit,a, of the calcaneus. It is thus that, in spite of their distance of separation, the exten-sors of the femur and of the tibia participate in an indirect mannerin the extension of the canon,—that is to say, in the maintenance of thetibio-tarsal anole, owin*»; to the mechanical rôle of the cord of the remarkable synergy or correlation in the extension of the articularangles of the posterior limb explains the vigor, precision, and sudden-ness of the propulsive movements of this member during also accounts for the true action of the gastrocnemius, the perfor-atus, and part of the tibial aponeurosis, which thus become agents oftransmission in common with the muscles of the croup, the stifle, andthe leg, enormous muscles, ac
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjecthorses, bookyear1892
