818 Notices respecting New Books. 



fore the art of shoeing commenced, and may be not far 

 from the truth in those times. If we were to give an opi- 

 nion on this matter; we should state it as cur belief, that 

 he acquires his stature or height at about five years, but 

 obtains his full bulk and strength about the eighth year j 

 and this period, as in most other animals, if multiplied by 

 four, will give somewhere about the period of his natural 

 life; which, without any desire of unnaturally extending, 

 would be from 32 to 40; and at the former age we havei 

 seen (setting aside the stale of his feet) horses capable of a 

 great deal of service. But frequent visits to the slaughter- 

 house led us to observe and conclude, that six arrive there 

 before, to one after the 14th year!" Thus, it appears that 

 tnen abridge the lives of horses on an average, just to one 

 third their natural duration. The unfortunate animals are 

 crippled with strait shoes, their feet arc contracted as un- 

 mercifully as those of the Chinese females, and it becomes 

 ceconomy to " use them up,'' or wear them out by the 

 greatest barbarity, and then sell them to the caterers for dogs 

 and cats ! The most obvious evil of the iron-shoe is " its 

 permanent application and constant pressure against the 

 bottom of the foot, with a force altogether indefinite, de- 

 pending on the strength with which the nails are clenched^ 

 and the proximity of the shoe to the sole, which causes it 

 to act with more or less violence against the lower surface 

 of the coffin-bone. Next the nails in the sides, being im- 

 moveably blocked in the perforations of the shoe, create a 

 solid resistance of iron at this part, not admitting the na- 

 tural expansion of the hoof; and it must be obvious that 

 they almost, though not entirely, prevent, by keeping the 

 quarters fixed, every movement of the posterior parts and 

 heels." It is impossible to form any adequate idea of the 

 dreadful tortures which the animal must experience under 

 such circumstanccis; it is also necessary to examine the 

 author's very accurate plates, to comprehend the extraor- 

 dinary changes which shoes make even on the very bones 

 of the horse's foot. Mr. C. took casts of natural hoofs, 

 from which that ingenious and accurate delineator Mr. S. 

 Edwards made drawings, which correctly represent the 

 -figures of the hoof in its natural state, and after it has un- 

 dergone the process of shoeing at different periods. In 

 this case the outline of the lioof is changed from nearly a 

 circle to a good oval, the posterior part contracting, the toe 

 exiending. That part of the hoof which is nearly hori- 

 zontal can grow a little, but that which is perpendicular 

 'cannot possibly overcome the resistance of a thick bar or 

 iron. In 



