640 



HKOEIJS'G. 



tionate to the amount of growth or length of time the shoe is on 

 there will be corresponding change from the original size and ad- 

 justment, making the shoe too small, or drawing it forward under 

 the heels, and, as before explained, increasing the strain upon the 

 back tendon. To restore this to its natural adjustment, at stated 



intervals of four or six weeks, 

 according to the rapidity of 

 growth, the shoe must be taken 

 off and the wall of the foot cut 

 down to its original form, and 

 the shoe nailed on again. 



In its natural condition the 

 outer rim or wall of the foot 

 comes in contact with the 

 ground first; second, the frog 

 and outer edge of the sole; 

 third, the center of the foot and 

 spaces between the bars and 

 frog. Now, in putting on the 

 ?^ shoes, the aim should be to 

 keep the adj ustment of the feet 

 as nearly as possible what it 

 w^as before shoes were put on. 

 To show this more clearly, 

 three sectional drawings are made, showing the concavity of the 

 foot at different points between the heel and turn of the hoof, and 

 the necessarily great disturbance of this relation by the form of 

 shoe usually put on. Cut A shows the foot at the point of the 

 heels as it rests upon the ordinary thick shoe, with calks raising 

 the frog and sole so unnaturally high from the ground, that there 

 can be no contact of those parts with it necessary for obtaining 

 moisture and preserving a condition of health. In addition it 

 will be noticed, that in the way shoes are usually fitted, the bear- 

 ing surface is very much concave, tending to force the quarters 

 together. Cut B shows the same, with form and fitting of shoes 

 as they should be; cuts C and D show the same at relative dis- 

 tances between there and the turn of the foot; D, at the widest 

 part, representing a heavy shoe. 



The better to explain some of the causes of contraction and 



FIG. 447. Foot about as it should be. 



