THE 
VETERINARIAN. 
VOL. XVI, No. 185. MAY 1843. New Series, No. 17. 
ON THE PAVEMENT OF ROADS AND STABLES. 
By Mr. W. Percivall, V.S. First Life Guards. 
Lest the question should be raised, “ What have veterinary 
surgeons to do with roads and pavements,” I think it proper to 
preface any observations I may have to make on the subject 
with the remark, that, as roads and pavements must necessarily 
have considerable influence on “ the wear and tear” of horses’ 
feet and legs, and as veterinary surgeons,' from the nature of 
their avocation, are supposed to ride and drive about as much as 
any men, and a great deal more than men in general, they are 
not only concerned about such affairs, but are as capable, per- 
haps, as most men, of giving sound opinions about them. And 
since the men of Saint Mary-le-bone, and of other sainted and 
non-sainted parishes in the metropolis, have had their say, and 
the job-masters and omnibus-proprietors have enjoyed theirs, we 
deem it but fair play that we should now be permitted to have 
our say. 
The nature of the surface upon which horses are required ha- 
bitually to stand or tread, or upon which they perform all or the 
greater part of their work, seems, so far as the animal’s foot is 
concerned, only second in importance even to the shoe itself. 
Whether a horse stands or works upon a hard or upon a yielding 
surface, upon a level or an uneven one, or upon a slanting one, 
must, in the course of time, produce alterations in the form or 
structure of the foot, and not in the foot alone but in the joints 
and sinews of the leg as well, and consequently must have more 
or less effect on the “ wear” of such parts — on their durability. 
Although it is my intention to make wood pavement the espe- 
cial subject of attention on the present occasion, yet, to enable 
me to speak comparatively of its good and bad qualities, I pur- 
pose extending my observations to other kinds of pavement 
and roads, not omitting one which, though formerly the most 
common in London streets, is fast disappearing, to the regret of 
nobody I should think, before the march of modern improvement: 
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