PODOMETRIC SHOEING. 561 



the liorse's feet being accurately ascertained by means of 

 the podometer, this was entered in a register, so that the 

 shoes could be made in the forge, and the animal shod 

 with them without being required to leave his stable. 



The idea appeared to be excellent, and was at first 

 willingly, if not gladly, received by the veterinary profes- 

 sion in France, where it was extensively tested. M. 

 Riquet had so highly exaggerated the risks and injurious 

 effects of applying the hot shoe to the hoof, and so vaunted 

 the advantages to be derived from his podometric/e/vz^re 

 a froid, that a large number of cavalry officers became 

 temporary converts, and indeed unreasonable enthusiasts. 

 Even the French Minister of War did not escape the 

 contagion, and on the 30th August, 1845, issued an order 

 that ' in all mounted corps the cold method of fitting was 

 to be immediately substituted for the hot.' This was no 

 proof in favour of the invention, but rather a testimony 

 to the plausible statements and peculiar tact of M. 

 Riquet. 



Of course the matter was soon tested ; though it was 



some time before it was finally decided. ' At the Cavalry 



School of Saumur,' writes M. Barthelemy,' ' experiments 



have been made from the 22nd September, 1841, to the 



5th October, 1844. During these three years all the 



near-side horses of the school have been shod by the 



cold, and the ofF-side ones by the hot method. In 



that space of time, out of 22,579 shoes which had been 



fitted in a cold state, 386 were lost, detached, or broken, 



and only 123 out of the same number fitted while hot; 



that is, in the first case, i shoe in 58 was detached, while 



' Bulletin de la Soc. Veterinaire, 1846. 

 36 



