BRACY CLARK. 529 



only at the toe, where there was no motion, and tiie 

 branches nailed as usual to the sides and heels, where this 

 excessive play was supposed to be going on, it might have 

 been foreseen that no good could result. The thin-heeled 

 shoe, the bar shoe, and indeed every shoe, proved unsatis- 

 factory to him, and the chief value of his experiments and 

 labours rests on the demonstration of the changes brought 

 about in hoofs by a vicious system of paring and shoeing 

 them, which the highly-developed expansion theory caused 

 Bracy Clark entirely to overlook. This author was of 

 opinion that the sole and frog should not come into con- 

 tact with the ground. 



It is scarcely necessary to say that the false doctrine 

 of lateral expansion and sole descent propounded by 

 Bracy Clark and Professor Coleman, has had a most 

 serious and pernicious influence on farriery, not only in this 

 country, but on the continent ; and has largely tended to the 

 production and perpetuation of foot diseases that are tor- 

 turing to the animal, and baffling to the veterinary surgeon. 



The theories published by Bracy Clark, with regard to 

 the elasticity of the foot, were certainly ingenious, but not 

 to any degree original ; though they were rashly specu- 

 lative, and must have been based on the most slender 

 instalment of proper experience and observation. 



This century has been very prolific in treatises on 

 farriery, inventions, and modifications of horse-shoes and 

 horse-shoeing. In England, among other writers, at its 

 commencement, were White, Blaine, and Peall. These 

 veterinarians appear to have been more or less in favour 

 of Coleman's thin-heeled shoe, and sanctioned the well 



paring-out method of preparing the hoof. 



34 



