256 
KEVIEW. 
shoes ; which , in our opinion, proceeds not merely from any 
cumbrance of weight of the shoes (for they might be made 
exceeding light), but from the deprivation of the grasp or 
clutch which the naked down-curved toes have upon the 
ground; and we contend that the toe of the hoof of the 
horse, inflexible as it is, has still some such hold upon the 
ground, which, by the ajusture , it is deprived of. M. Rey 
thinks that our foot lamenesses — navicul arthritis — scarcely 
known among them, as well as sprains of synovial sheaths 
and alterations of tendons, are all referable, among us, to 
the want of ajusture ; we, however, can find other causes for 
this alleged freedom from lameness of their horses. In fine, 
taking all things into consideration, we cannot bring our- 
selves to believe, that, so far from advantage resulting, they 
do not entail disadvantages on the shoeing by rasping off the 
toe of the hoof. 
In the same chapter we have “A Description of the Instru- 
ments used in Shoeing, and of the Nails,” respecting which 
we may remark, that the French continue the use of the 
butteris to the exclusion of the drawing-knife ; and farther, 
that they employ rose-headed nails. In fact, in this respect, 
their usage is precisely what ours was, pretty universally, 
fifty years ago ; and such as, perhaps, it may still be found to 
be in some of the most remote and uncivilised parts of Britain. 
The chapter following the foregoing (XII) is devoted to 
the “ Act of Shoeing the Healthy Foot,” in which we may 
simply notice a fact — well known by all who have visited 
France — that the pulling-off and putting-on of the shoe 
employs two men: one, the assistant, holding the horse’s 
foot ; while the other, le martchal , operates on the foot. Our 
practice, compared with this, shows theirs not only to be 
awkward and clumsy, but that two men are employed to do 
work which, after all, is better executed by one. 
In regard to hot and cold shoeing [la f enure a chaud et la 
ferrure a froid), which forms the subject of Chapter XIII, 
we may refer our reader for an account of the two processes 
to ‘The Veterinarian , 5 vol. XXIII, p 590, wherein he will 
likewise find described their comparative advantages and 
disadvantages. 
