ON THE NAVICULAR DISEASE. 7 



day, besides the continuance at his ordinary work, 

 it would prove the worst event for veterinary sur- 

 geons that has ever yet happened in the horse world ; 

 because it would tend more to cut off our supply of 

 groggy lameness, and its attendants, than any cir- 

 cumstance, or single cause, that has ever yet been 

 published, or even named. 



3dly, The absence of frog pressure is another 

 cause. The frog is doubtless an important organ 

 in preserving the natural form of the hoof; but I 

 differ from those eminent veterinary authors who 

 have urged, in opposition to our distinguished Pre- 

 sident, Professor Coleman, that the frog cannot 

 bear pressure, my experience having shewn me Frog pressure 

 that it can ; and I have convinced myself, by re- 

 peated experiments, that it can endure an extraor- 

 dinary degree o^ protected pressure without injury 

 to itself or other parts of the foot. I use the words 

 protected or secondary pressure as a distinguishing 

 mark from the frog pressure, which has been so 

 long insisted on by Professor Coleman ; and, if I 

 mistake not, this gentleman inculcates the necessity 

 of the foot being shod with the frog exposed, at least, 

 on a level with the heels of the shoe. 



Experience has convinced me, as well as Mr. 

 Coleman, that frog pressure is both natural and be- 

 neficial ; but I must admit, with many other prac- 

 titioners, that, in the present improved state of our 

 roads, the sensitive foot cannot sustain the shock 



