5i8 HORSE-SHOES AND HORSE-SHOEING. 



This new method of shoeing, so long advocated by 

 Osmer and Clark, had gained but trifling success up to 

 the time when Moorcroft wrote his treatise. That gentle- 

 man, full of enthusiasm in the new-born profession, and 

 sanguine as to the benefits to be derived from the seated- 

 shoe, had the aid of machinery invoked to make this kind 

 of armature more rapidly and less expensively than it 

 could be manufactured by hand ; and this, together with 

 his deservedly high reputation as a veterinarian, brought 

 it into general use, and so firmly established it in public 

 opinion, that it is still the common shoe. It has also 

 made some progress on the continent, where it is known 

 as the ' English Shoe.' 



In the opinion of Mr Moorcroft, this particular kind 

 of defence was better adapted for ordinary wear than the 

 semi-lunar or ' tip ' shoe of Lafosse, or even the thin-heeled 

 shoe ; though he was a strong advocate for frog and heel 

 pressure on the ground. 



About this period Professor Coleman, successor to 

 M. St Bel, published his elaborate work' on the horse's 

 foot and shoeing, which was dedicated to His Majesty 

 George III. An analysis of this voluminous monograph 

 cannot be attempted here ; suflSce it to say that, amid 

 much error as to the physiology of the foot, and conse- 

 quent incorrect deductions in the application of this to 

 shoeing, there is yet much truth. Every allowance must 

 be made in criticizing many of Coleman's notions with 

 regard to shoeing. Though a most promising surgeon 



' Observations on the Structure, Economy, and Diseases of the 

 Foot of the Horse, and On the Principles and Practice of Shoeing. 

 London, 1798, 1802. 



