LAYING DOWN THE FOOT. 147 



I here propounded, in a few words, an entirely new 

 view of the horse's mode of progression. I never felt 

 satisfied with the cun-ent opinion on the subject, as I 

 Tvas always convinced, from the time I was able to 

 form an opinion of mj own from practical obseiwation, 

 that the horse and all other inferior animals moved, 

 like the man, from heel to toe. At the time I wrote, 

 I thought the universal belief was that the foot should 

 be laid down quite flat upon the road ; but I learned 

 in the year 1861, to my gi-eat astonishment, that a 

 large portion of the veterinarians actually maintained 

 that the toe was the part which should reach the 

 ground first. Such an idea as this last never entered 

 into my head, and it was with great difficulty I could 

 believe, when informed of the fact in 1861, that any 

 man in the exercise of his common sense could give 

 credence to such a doctrine ; and I am still at a loss to 

 know what on earth could have given rise to such a 

 view of progression — progi'ession by going first back- 

 wards and then forwards ! 



I re-wrote these statements about laying down the 

 heel in 1851, and published them again in 1859, ex- 

 actly as they are to be found on the 88th and 89 th 

 pages of this work. The same sentiments were 

 brought, in a clear, distinct, and extended form, before 

 the notice of the veterinary profession by Mr. I. J, 



