SHOE-NAILS. 109 



rifle came into use. Now, the effect of this rolling 

 and punching is to produce ' lamination ' i.e. the 

 iron forms itself into layers. These layers do not 

 show themselves in the nail until it is used. Then, 

 however, the blows of the hammer cause the lamina? 

 to separate, and so it happens that the nail has a 

 double or even treble point. In one case a nail 

 acted in a most curious manner. It was rightly 

 placed, and came out on the exterior of the hoof, 

 just where it was expected. But the horse went 

 lame after shoeing, and when the shoe .was removed 

 in order to find the cause, a most unexpected acci- 

 dent was discovered. The nail had split so as to 

 look like the capital letter Y. One-half had followed 

 the right direction, but the other had turned inwards 

 and passed through the edge of the coffin bone a 

 little way from the toe, so that it lodged among the 

 sensitive lamina?. 



If this had been all, the horse might have been 

 saved, but in removing the shoe in the usual manner, 

 the inner fork of the Y was broken off and left in the 

 toe. The result was that in a few days the horse 

 died from lockjaw. 



No fault was to be found with anyone, as the nail 

 was correctly driven, and to all external appearance 

 everything was right. That the lamination produced 

 by rolling the iron into sheets and increased by the 



