AN ANTIQUATED INVENTION. .527 



Coleman ; and at present, with those who have had better 

 opportunities of making them- 

 selves acquainted with the con- 

 struction and functions of the 

 foot^ it is recognized as a fact, 

 that sole-pressure is almost 

 as necessary to a healthy con- 

 dition of the hoofs as fros:- 

 pressure. Coleman was a stout 

 opponent of the seated-shoe,- fig- 193 



and offered the strongest arguments he could frame to 

 make it unpopular. It may be observed, however, that he 

 afterwards returned to the thick-heeled shoe, but added 

 to it clips at the inner angles of the heels, intended to 

 grasp and pull the bars outwards. This antiquated inven- 

 tion was also patented,' and was subsequently re-invented 

 by many anti-contractionists. It had no success with 

 Coleman. 



' This was the same kind of shoe as that proposed by Carlo Ruini, of 

 Bologna, in 1598, for the same condition of the hoofs. After dilating the 

 heels and strengthening the feet by allowing the horse to roam at large 

 in a meadow, or unsoling the hoofs, that writer adds : ' Se gli mettera un 

 ferro debole sottile, e stretto di verga; il quale sia tanto largo nelle cal- 

 cagna, che il corno, o guscio del piedevi posi sopra 5 e habbi nella parte 

 di dentro due oruchie eguali, ma d'ogni lato acconcie talmente, che 

 pigliauo nella parte di dentro del corno, e guscio del piede, senza poza 

 potere in modo alcuno offendere, e danneggiare il vivo, e I'osso del 

 piede. Dipoi essendo per buon spatio di tempo stato a molle il piede 

 neir acqua calda, e mollificato, si pigliera con le tenaglie il ferro nel 

 calcagno e tirandolo per forza verso fuori, s'allarghera a bastanza in- 

 sieme con li quarti e con le calgagno del piede.' — Anatomiaet Injirmita 

 del Cavallo, p. 6^^. The same description of shoe, and one opening 

 with a screw, is noticed by J. Bridges. 



