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for any kind or description of ground to pull off a shoe, 

 that has been properhj fitted to the foot, even though it 

 should be fastened by five nails only. Tliis no doubt will 

 appear to many to be a rash and hazardous assertion, but 

 there is no proposition m mechanics, of which I am better 

 assured : let me however stop here to repeat, for it cannot 

 be too often said, or too strongly impressed upon the mind, 

 that the shoe must fit the foot : there must be no trimming 

 to meet old prejudices ; no leaving just a little here or a 

 little there. It has been settled above, that nature has 

 made no mistake ; neither must we ; we must follow her 

 outline of the hoof as closely, as possible. If we desire the 

 smith to put on a shoe at random, he answers at once, " I 

 must fit it to the foot first :" pin him to that ; make him 

 fit it to the foot first, and then you may defy any ground 

 to remove it. The success entirely depends ujDon this fitting 

 of the shoe to the foot ; for, if the smallest portion projects, 

 even the sixteenth of an inch, either at the quarters, or 

 sides of the heels, but particularly at the inside heel, it is 

 fatal to the security of the shoe ; it oflPers a handle for the 

 ground to work by ; a sort of request, " that it will be 

 good enough to pull it off ; " but, where the fitting is 

 complete, how, I wiU ask, can the ground pull it off ? 

 The foot by its expansion, when the weight is thrown upon 

 it, makes a hole larger, than the shoe, that precedes it ; 

 and what possible resistance can be offered to the return of 

 the shoe by a hole larger, than that, through which it 

 entered ? but, supposing the ground could offer a resistance, 

 where is it to obtain its purchase ? there are no projections 



