476 
EDITOlilAL OBSERVATIONS. 
he were shod in the ordinary mode ; at the same time let me 
observe, that, if there be any one point more than another con- 
cerning which I am apprehensive people may run into a 
mistake in regard to the uses or purposes for which the san- 
dal is either fitted or designed, it is, lest any body should 
imagine that it is intended for general, for ordinary use, or in any- 
wise to supersede the common (and hitherto unsurpassed) nailed - 
shoe. No such an achievement was ever contemplated ! From 
the very first it was framed simply as a substitute for a nailed 
shoe, and that only in situations where the latter could not 
be procured : in a word, the sandal was constructed to accom- 
pany the fox-hunter in his chase [or the cavalry man in the 
field] in order to be ready in case he should “ lose a shoe,” 
to supply the place of that shoe, and so enable him to continue 
his chase ; and, if it answers this end, it has fulfilled the design 
and purpose of its invention . 
On such occasions as the present, the inventor is commonly 
told by some “ good-natured friend/’ that his production is 
“ not newf that i( similar inventions have preceded it,” and, 
without giving the poor thmg a single trial, that “ it is quite 
impossible it can answer.” Such cavilling, because it ever 
proceeds rather from envy than argument, in truth, deserves 
neither reply nor notice ; still, what I am about to observe 
may serve the end of a reply, or, at all events, may be taken 
as my answer (herewith given beforehand) to all who may 
feel disposed to set their faces against my invention upon 
such frivolous and unwarrantable grounds. 
W hether a thing be new or old, I apprehend that its real 
and intrinsic merits must remain unaltered and unaffected. 
And I never in my life heard any rational person detract from 
the credit of another who had introduced some useful inven- 
tion, merely because he was the reviver or the restorer in 
place of the inventor of it : for my own part, of the two, I 
should feel inclined to yield more praise to that person who 
had saved some serviceable invention from oblivion, than to 
the original inventor, who had failed in establishing its 
merits. However, be this as it may, I contend, that, of the 
present production, I am not merely a reviver or restorer, 
but the original inventor; since this is the first thing of 
its kind which has appeared before the public with any 
chance of success. 
It certainly becomes the duty, and the interest as well, of 
every one who brings any new 7 invention fonvard, to point out 
its nature, and particularise the uses for which it is designed ; 
but, in my mind, it admits of considerable doubt (in certain 
cases at least, among which the present forms one), how 7 far 
