REMARKS ON MR. REEVE’S EXPERIMENTS. 137 
it has not been a puncture, but generally an up-and-down cut or 
scratch. Under these circumstances, if you examine the shoe you 
will find it will lightly spring, and that these marks, when they do 
exist, if examined by moving the shoe slightly up and down, 
will be found to correspond and be produced from that cause. 
Another remark I have to make about the upper and back screws, 
which is, that, from the shoe being lightly sprung (which from 
being nailed tightly on the other side you cannot avoid), there 
will be a slight declination of the hoof, and that therefore the hoof 
will yield backwards and press upon the points of these screws; 
and should any indentation be made in the hoof, it will be found 
not to be a puncture, but an indentation much more extended, 
shewing a pressing down of the hoof on the point of the screw. 
I will remark another fact, which may militate against the experi- 
ment, but I only give it for consideration. When you take a 
horse’s foot in your hands, especially a low-heeled horse, you will 
find that with the least force you can slightly separate the heels, 
or press them together, or press one heel above or below the level 
of the other. Now, when the shoe is only nailed on one side, is it 
not probable, that, when the horse stood on any slightly inclined 
surface, the heel which was attached by nails would be forced 
upwards and inwards, and the whole foot be thrown slightly on the 
incline to the inside, perhaps slightly disturbing the result of the 
experiment] I only mention it as a probable circumstance not to be 
overlooked : the fact of the easy yielding nature of the back parts 
of the foot has always been seized upon as a presumptive proof 
of its expansibility ; but it is very clear, that, if Infinite Wisdom had 
not ordained otherwise, and if the weight of the horse upon the 
foot acted in any proportion to the force we could apply by the 
finger and thumb, the foot would open, and let out its contents 
when the horse was put in motion. It is essentially necessary that 
the substance of the iron in this shoe should be sufficiently strong 
not to allow a chance of the weight of the horse coming on the pro- 
jecting edge, causing it to slightly bend or spring upwards. I have 
thus mentioned a great many circumstances requiring the closest 
attention in this experiment, and inattention to any one of them 
would interfere with the result, or give a delusive appearance : I 
have only to add that, in my experiments, I have not come to the 
conclusion Mr. Reeve has arrived at, although I have found the 
two upper back screws sometimes slightly to touch, at the utmost 
to the one-fortieth of an inch; the reasons for which I have given, 
and that this has been either an up-and-down scratch, or an ex- 
tended indentation of the horn, but not a puncture ; and there was 
no appearance in any way to lead one to suppose there was any 
lateral expansion of the lower circumferent border of the house’s 
VOL. XXIII. U 
