ON THE NAVICULAR DISEASE. 55 



the investigation of an able and experienced member 

 of our profession, Mr. Castley, Veterinary Surgeon 

 to the 12 til Lancers. 



I have much to point out on a particular method 

 of shoeing, which favours the return of the navicu- 

 lar bone to the oriorinal station allotted for it within 

 the hoof, but which, however, must be reserved for 

 another occasion. 



The veterinary profession and the public are 

 much indebted to Mr. Joseph Goodwin for a very- 

 scientific work on shoeing, published a few years 

 since, giving an account of the various modes of 

 shoeing horses, as practised by different nations. 



Most of the old writers on the foot of the horse 

 remark on the constrain ins^ effect of iron and nails 

 on the hoof ; but their evil tendency is more plainly 

 shewn by Professor Coleman in his " Treatise on 

 the Foot." Nevertheless, we are indebted to Mr. 

 Bracy Clark's incessant and forcible declarations 

 respecting their baneful influence, which have been Ou shoeing 

 published since ; and yet this shrewd observer con- 

 tinues to fetter the foot with them on both its sides, 

 although practice now shews that full one -half of 

 this complex organ may be left free as air, and yet 

 perfectly defended. 



The view I take of the matter is this : — That nails, 

 in a clenched state within the quarters of the hoof, 

 are not only detrimental to the sensitive organs con- 

 tained therein while the animal is in rapid motion, 



