556 ART OF SHOEING. 



in England. But Mr Coleman erred m forming an opinion 

 on the French shoe, when he presumed to enter on a 

 description of it, without having seen and made himself ac- 

 quainted with the art of shoeing generally, and of the French 

 system in particular. Mr Coleman said that the French 

 stamped their nail-holes coarsely, whereas a more correct 

 knowledge would have shown that it was eminently a syste- 

 matic method which they followed, each nail being placed 

 where most effective, and least in danger of causing injury to 

 the foot. 



On vague notions brought over the Channel, the cus- 

 tom of stamping instead of fullering the shoe was introduced 

 in England. In his work on the " Foot of the Horse," pub- 

 lished in 1798, page 116, Professor Coleman says, "the nail- 

 hole should be made with a punch, of a wedge-like form, so 

 as to adinit the whole head of the nail into the shoe ;" and 

 " that the head of the nail should be conical, to correspond 

 with the nail-hole." 



The above-described mode of forming the nail and nail- 

 hole was extemporised by Professor Coleman when he had 

 everything to learn about shoeing, whether as regarded 

 English or foreign modes of procedure, as is clearly evidenced 

 by his book, which was written at the outset of his career, 

 instead of being deferred until experience had put him in 

 possession of material knowledge for the work. 



Yet such was the position in which the sole teacher of 

 veterinary medicine in the whole kingdom was placed, that 

 he had the power, and used it, in so far as the notions re- 

 presented by his " Principles and Practice of Shoeing " were 

 accepted, and became diffused, his influence being sufficient 

 to cause the adoption of all his suggestions in the army; 

 whilst additionally, or rather primarily, the professorial chair 

 and the practice Dursued at the Veterinary College, were 



