On tJie General Treatment of the Feet, 161 



m'scliief sooner or laler. Care should be taken that ample room be 

 left for i\\i picker to pass all round the shoe^ from the toe to the 

 extreme angle of the heel. During- the summer months^ in case such 

 strong-footed Horses have not the advantage of a paddock to run in^ 

 they should stand three or four hours, daily, with their Feet enveloped 

 in clay, which will be the means not only of keeping the Feet cool, 

 and preventing rapid contraction of the heels, and quarters, but, will 

 also preserve the horn, in a tough, elastic state, so that the crust will 

 be less liable to splinter from the driving- of the nails ; which is a cir- 

 cumstance of very considerable importance, in the practice of Shoe- 

 ing. Nosv, how the practice of oiling the Feet of Horses originated, 

 it would be extremely diificult to discover; and still more so, perhaps, 

 to explain why it has been continued, and is still adhered to with 

 such general pertinacity, on the mistaken principle of benefitting 

 the hoof. For oil instead of softening, actually hardens horn, a* 

 any one may be convinced, who will be at the pains to macerate horn 

 in warm oil for a considerable space of time. And if the horn be 

 boiled in the oil only for a few minutes, it immediately loses its tough- 

 ness altogether, and becomes quite brittle. 



Whereas, water even if it be cold, will be found gradually to 

 soften horn ; if the water be warm, this effect will take place more 

 speedily, and if horn be put into water that is strongly heated in a 

 Papin's Digester, it may be converted into a gelatinous mass, which 

 possesses the properties of gelatine. The common notion, however, 

 of the hoof being porous, and of its admitting the transmission of a 

 perspirable fluid, is at once both hypothetical and unphilosophical. 



And, even if it were true, still, the practice of oiling the hoof, by 

 confining the fluid intended to be thrown off, would interfere with 



Ss 



