140 ESSAY ON SHOEING HORSES. 



for lowering the wall. There is a point where the work of these two 

 instruments meets ; the little crooked knife clears away and destroys 

 the sole, leaving a thin edge of the wall, which the rasp sweeps 

 away. A rasp or file was long in use with us, as it is now on the 

 Continent ; but little use is made of it there, since the butteris, a 

 broad, cutting instrument, gives a much better bearing surface to the 

 foot, and the file is used to a small extent only in finishing the work. 

 We may give some notion of the adaptation of the old instrument, 

 the butteris, and the thorough unfitness of the drawing-knife for the 

 same office, by a few comparisons. 



"Every one knows that if he wants to form an exact surface or line, 

 tie does not choose a very small instrument, but one of breadth and 

 length; a joiner does not use his chisel, but his long plane, to strike 

 a plane, smooth surface ; a man who carves handsomely and ecouom- 

 .cally a joint of meat does not take his pocket-knife, but one with a 

 Droad, well-adapted blade ; a man who cuts leather uses a broad in- 

 strument, and he can do it with exactness. We may go further, 

 and adduce the tailor's large shears as he divides his broadcloth. 

 The fact is, the little instrument makes notches and holes, destroys 

 ind weakens; and this has been pre-eminently the case, in the ap- 

 plication of the drawing-knife to the destruction of horses' feet. 



" We will, in conclusion, say a few words as to how this change was 

 effected. To abolish an instrument from the land, which was well- 

 adapted for the requirement, and to introduce into general applica- 

 tion one which we hold to be ill-adapted, seems difficult to account 

 for. The fact is, at the time the London Veterinary College was 

 Brst established, nearly seventy years ago, and subsequently, its 

 Principal was able to carry any point, almost at copimand ; the 

 power was displayed in the army, through which changes in the plan 

 of shoeing were rapidly carried, and there the butteris was at once 

 aboUshed and the drawing-knife substituted ; the same thing followed 

 through all the principal forges, and since the scooping out of the 

 foot was pronounced to be a requirement, and insisted on, compli- 

 ance on the part of the workmen to use the drawing-knife was the 

 more readily exacted. Subsequently, the rasp manufacturer adapted 

 that instrument, so that instead of the little fine-cut rasp and file of 

 the former times, a sharper, rougher, and bigger instrument was in- 

 troduced, with which a strong man could reduce the hoof, and even 

 destroy it with a very few sweeping strokes. How we are to get 

 back to a more rational system than now prevails, is the work to 

 which we have put our shoulders." 



