ART OF SHOEING. 557 



enough, in a few years, to make Professor Coleman's stamped 

 shoe, with its concave ground surface, and the free applica- 

 tion of the drawing-knife to the sole, to become very general 

 throughout the kingdom. 



That Professor Coleman was instrumental in carrying out 

 some important changes has been freely conceded, and by none 

 more cordially than ourselves, his insisting on the necessity 

 of a better system of ventilation of stables, and all places 

 where animals were kept, whether temporarily or constantly, 

 did incalculable good ; the destroying of glandered horses, 

 and separating cases of infectious disease from healthy ani- 

 mals, with other hygienic measures, were all praiseworthy, 

 though they in no degree affect the question as it regards his 

 modes of shoeing, the treatment of cases of lameness, or his 

 whole course of teaching on the economy of the horse's foot 

 One and all of Coleman's ideas about the foot were an encum- 

 brance to the veterinary student, such as incapacitated him 

 for going calmly and rationally into the matter. 



Effects followed causes. The good parts of Mr Coleman's 

 teaching stood the test of time, and now, when it can be shown 

 that the health of our cavalry horses is greatly improved 

 compared to old times, lameness prevails undiminished, so 

 much so, that we never witness a sale of cast-off military 

 horses that is not composed to the extent of about two-thirds 

 of the whole number of lame horses, mostly preventable cases, 

 and many of them curable by the simple application of a 

 better system of shoeing than now prevails in the service. 



The army affords the best means for training men up to 

 the highest standard that distinguishes individuals, but in 

 horse-shoeing the reverse has been the case; it has actually 

 afforded a field in which inexperienced men have tried 

 their hands, set at nought whatever was sound of old, and 

 brought their pernicious schemes to bear their fruits. 



