REMARKS ON MR. REEVE’S EXPERIMENTS. 
133 
of horn from the heels of the foot; but, as this woodcut was pro- 
bably designed to place Mr. Reeve’s meaning in a stronger light, 
more fully to explain his description, it does not signify: I 
merely mention it, lest the beautiful pattern should be set down as 
mine. I can only state, that I fully believe the whole hoof, when 
in a state of nature, yields slightly downwards and backwards, in 
the direction of its fibres. The sinking of the heels in an unshod 
foot, or in the foot having a shoe applied to it sprung at the heels, 
may be plainly seen, in the generality of horses, as the animal 
walks ; and in some horses, if one heel only be sprung, and the 
other be made a fixture, the declination of the hoof will go on at 
the quarter when the space between the shoe and foot allows of 
it. Independent of this great means of getting rid of concussion, I 
have described many other ways, both in the shod and unshod 
foot, by which jar is removed ; and also stated my opinion, that, 
when from any cause a certain natural action of the foot cannot go 
on, that the other powers are called into greater play. 
Page 64, the woodcut . — The springing of the heels may be 
allowed, either by the bevelling off of the shoe at the heels, or 
slightly altering its bearing, or by rasping the horn slightly at the 
heels, or by the adaptation of an artificial spring. If you spring 
the heels by any of these means, you can both see and feel that 
the heels descend, the extent being modified by the conformation 
of the animal, and without the untoward accident so well shewn 
in the woodcut. Springing of the heels to excess, that is, beyond 
what was necessary to the spring of the hoof, would, doubtless, 
cause a tendency to the loosening of the nails; and in this, proba- 
bly, consists a practical difficulty. In most feet it is the dead jar 
only that it is necessary to guard against, which a very light 
spring will obviate. 
Page 64, paragraph 4. — Mr. Reeve here does not interpret me 
aright, but I believe unintentionally. He makes it appear that I 
consider there is a bending action of the hinder parts of the hoof, 
without the anterior parts partaking of that motion : this is very 
far from my meaning, for I consider it perfectly impossible. How 
could this take place, except by the separation or disruption of the 
fibres of the hoof, as there is no joint in the hoof to accommodate 
this motion] — therefore, Mr. Reeve’s next two experiments, with 
gutta percha and clay, cannot affect me. 
Page 64, paragraph 6. — As the premises under which this ex- 
periments are undertaken are ideas erroneously ascribed to me, 
the results cannot affect me. However, I will make a few observa- 
tions. How could Mr. Reeve possibly have expected that a flat 
surface could have presented any thing but a flat impression ? In 
