INDIA-RUBBER CUSHIONS AND PADS. 57 



grass, that when he is not grazing he will repair 

 to some favourite spot, which is generally stiff, 

 neither hard nor very soft, on which to stand at rest ? 

 In dry weather he ^vill even stale upon some place 

 that he can find in the shade, in order to make 

 the ground consistent to his taste and desire — that 

 is to say, 'stiff' — and there he will go when he is 

 satisfied with feeding. And for what reason ? Why, 

 in search of sole pressure, which is a relief to him, 

 but which he is generally deprived of. Can people 

 read nothing besides print ? 



As further evidence upon this point, we will 

 again hear ' Impecuniosus ' — not that he seems to 

 have had the slightest idea that sole pressure had 

 anything to do with bringing about the state of 

 things he relates. He clamours for original ideas, free 

 from ' grooviness ; ' and here is one for him, as far as 

 the writer knows. As the open-minded, investigating 

 man that he was (and is still, let us hope), he experi- 

 mented upon all ' new brooms,' as he expresses him- 

 self. Among others, he tried elastic ' cushions ' and 

 ' pads ; ' and he says that they diminish concussion, 

 and prevent stones being picked up by the shoe, and, 

 in so far, are good ; but that they cause the shoe to 

 come off, by their elasticity. ' I have personally made 

 a fair trial of them ; and this is the history thereof. 

 Some years ago I had a remarkably brilliant hunter, 

 who was also remarkably unsound. He had an inclina- 

 tion to pumice feet, and could hardly get along at all 

 on the road. I shod him with these rubber cushions, or 

 pads, which I may shortly describe as being a piece of 



