THE ' PERIPLANTAIRE ' SHOE. 575 



narrow shoe of Moorcroft^ Mavor, and others. It con- 

 sists, or rather consisted, in the insertion or imbedding of 

 a narrow, but comparatively thick, band of iron or mild 

 steel, around the front of the foot, in a recess cut out for 

 it in the crust or wall of the hoof, and is very simple to 

 look at and to consider. Only remove so much compara- 

 tive soft and brittle horn, and substitute a hard, tough rim 

 of iron or steel, almost as light (if we look at the ordinary 

 shoes) as the material you remove, and you have insured 

 the soliped against the effects of travelling, and almost 

 restored his foot to its pristine condition. 



Such is the Charlier method of shoeing ; and if it has 

 been modified in one or two essential features since its in- 

 troduction, in others it has withstood the test of time, and 

 testified in the most unequivocal manner to the correctness 

 of the teaching afforded by the great author of modern 

 and humane farriery. The idea of this method of shoeing, 

 M. Charlier says, was suggested by the fashion of arming 

 the extremity of a walking-stick by a ferrule, which every- 

 body knows is a most efficient protection to the mass of 

 wood it encloses. 



On the loth August, 1865, he makes the following 

 communication to the Societe Imperiale et Centrale de 

 Medecine Veterinaire : ' Many among you have already 

 heard of a new system of shoeing that I have imagined to 

 prevent horses from slipping, at the same time affording 

 them a natural bearing on the ground, and opposing con- 

 traction of the heels, and preventing several diseases caused 

 by the shoeing now in use. Have I solved this difficult 

 problem ? I hope so ; for the theory of abler authors 

 founded on the anatomy and physiology of the foot is 



