40 ' SYMPTOMS AND CURE, &C. 
tition of this apparently harmless operation ; but the bane appears 
in the sequel. 
And we find the French nailer an invader too, but with this 
important difference,—his weapons are short, his grasp moderate, 
and his position most happily chosen, being content with dividing 
his hold between sole and crust. 
Now these facts are well known, and have been clearly pointed 
out by Mr. Goodwin; but I think the conclusions which have 
hitherto been drawn from them are insufficient to explain the 
merits of French nailing. Those who may wish to know Mr. 
Bracy Clarke’s notions of French nailing, have only to refer to 
his writings on shoeing, in which he condemns the French 
system in loto , but their method of nailing in particular. This 
scientific work of Mr. Goodwin’s, giving an account of the vari¬ 
ous modes of shoeing horses, as practised by different nations, 
contains much practical information, with all the minutiae, relating 
to the mechanical execution of the art of shoeing. 
The view I take of the matter is this :—That nails, in a 
clenched state within the quarters of the hoof, are not so detri¬ 
mental to the sensitive organs contained therein while the animal 
is in action, by occasioning concussion, as has been supposed. 
But I believe this delicate piece of mechanism suffers from their 
baneful influence, by more slow degrees, while the foot is in a 
quiescent state, as in the stable they mechanically assist in 
opposing the descent of the heels of the coffin bone, by their rigi¬ 
dity against the wings of that bone; and therefore may be con¬ 
sidered as the first, if not the chief, predisposing cause of the 
equilibrium , or balance of weighty being lost within the foot. 
The French nails I conceive to be comparatively harmless, 
from the circumstance of their occupying only the margin of the 
crust; therefore not approaching so near to the sides of the coffin 
bone. 
Most of the old writers on the foot of the horse remark on the 
constraining effect of iron and nails on the hoof; but their evil 
tendency is more plainly shown by Professor Coleman in his 
“ Treatise on the Foot.” Nevertheless, we are indebted to Mr. 
Bracy Clarke’s incessant and forcible declarations respecting 
their baneful influence, which have been published since; and yet 
this shrewd observer continues to fetter the foot with them on 
both its sides, although practice now shows that full one-half 
of this precious organ may be left free as air , and yet perfectly 
defended . 
