436 REPLY TO MR. RAZING ON ONE-SIDED NAILING. 
the very entrance of his preserves. I refer to his pungent expres¬ 
sion, “ 1 wish every one would understand what he reads , and 
criticise only what he understands and as litigious sportsmen 
are sometimes caught in traps of their own setting, so do I ima¬ 
gine that Mr. Bazing’s observation forcibly applies to himself, as 
he was the first to criticise; and it is for the readers of The 
Veterinarian to judge whether he perfectly understood the 
subject of his criticism. 
In the second volume of The Veterinarian, page 362, 
Mr. Bazing calls Mr. Turner’s a " miserable and insecure expe¬ 
dient;” and yet when I say, that these terms, if founded on trial, 
would sink Mr. Turner’s system into obscurity, Mr. B. has it 
that I misunderstand him; and when I bring forward facts to 
shew that it is neither “ miserable” nor “ insecure Mr. Bazing says 
that this “point” is “inconsiderable ” Mr. B. asserts that he 
has “proved Mr. Clark’s and Mr. Turner’s systems to be exactly 
alike but how can w r e reconcile this with the conclusion of his 
sentence, “but each accomplishing his object by a method some¬ 
what different from the other.” Mr. B. says that “ Mr. Clark 
and Mr. Turner both contend for the elasticity of the foot.” If 
they really do, I wish them joy of their victory ; for I know of no 
one to contend against them. I really do not imagine that our 
forefathers were fond of building castles in the air; and I think 
Mr. Bazing utters a sad libel on the “ wisdom of our ancestors” 
in supposing that they invented a shoe, and forgot the means by 
which it was to be applied. 
Can Mr. Bazing be serious when he states, that the present Pro¬ 
fessor says nothing about the elasticity of the foot,—has never 
acted upon it, or even acknowledged it ? “ Oh, tell it not in 
Gath, publish it not in Askelon!” lest every disinterested pupil 
of the Professor rise up and proclaim against it. Mr. Coleman 
mentions in his work, and in his lectures he impressively, 
reiterates, the elasticity of the foot. He compares the sole, when 
the foot is off the ground, to a saucer; and as the saucer would 
occupy a larger space when flattened, so does the sole, when it 
descends, from the superincumbent weight, the crust dilating ac¬ 
cordingly. Mr. Bazing is not acquainted with any one, prior to 
1809, “ who has distinctly said that the foot is elasticand yet 
even Lafosse speaks of its flexibility, and says, long ago, that 
“ the hoofs are susceptible of contraction as well as dilatation .” 
An imprudent friend, they say, does a man more injury than 
an open enemy ; and w T ell has Mr. Clark reason to complain of 
this ; for I never can believe that such a clever and ingenious 
w r riter as he undoubtedly is could have arrogated to himself the 
discovery of such a w T ell-known fact as that which Mr. Bazing 
wishes to father upon him, viz. the elasticity of the foot . 
