ON THE EXPANSION OF HORSES’ FEET. 
245 
of expansion, by stating, that the shoe is not new, and, to give 
an air of research and discovery to his remarks, would send you 
on a bootless errand to the British Museum, to consult the sage 
volume of old Gueriniere, when the purpose would have been equally 
well answered by our owm more ancient English writers, Blun- 
deville and De Grey, who, with all the farriery writers of that 
period, describe and figure the shoe for all feet, which is thus 
commented on by Mr. B. Clark, in first promulgating these doc¬ 
trines :— 
“ The shoe itself I do not claim as any novelty, for it is often 
seen hanging, as a curiosity, against the walls of forges, and has 
been called, by some, the hunting shoe, being, as it was said, 
sometimes taken into the field by the huntsman, and if anv shoe 
came off, and was lost during the sport, this supplied its place; 
possessing the power of dilating and contracting, it fitted all, if 
a village smith could but be found to nail it on. It is not, there¬ 
fore, the shoe itself, but the new principle for its application that 
I claim, and the discovery of the real structure and habits of the 
hoof which indicate its necessity .”—Sterenpleay p. 37. 
Also, in his History of the Horse, p. 35, speaking of Blunde- 
ville’s book, he says,— 
“ He has also given a shoe with a lap-joint, rivetted by a small 
iron pin, in case of a lost shoe, and to accommodate different feet, 
and recommends gentlemen learning to nail a shoe on, in order 
to use it, observing that, in Germany, it was the practice so to 
do with those who were very fond of riding, so that it was in¬ 
tended merely as a resource, to be removed as soon as a proper 
shoe, or smith, could be found ; indeed, such a shoe could not be 
w'orn many days, if not many hours, without coming asunder. 
No principle of elasticity in the foot being know-n, it was, in fact, 
hanging against the walls as a mere curiosity*.” 
This candour, on the part of Mr. Clark, renders Mr. Morgan’s 
remarks unnecessary ; and we should not forget, also, that a real 
meritorious discoverer is not a man who accidentally uses a thing 
for an occasional purpose, and lays it aside, but one wdio employs 
it upon principle, discovers and demonstrates the necessity of its 
application, and makes it, in short, practically useful .Were 
this not admitted by general consent, we should have no scale of 
merit, and those who hazard assertions without proof, and do 
things by mere chance, would rank before the enlightened dis¬ 
coverer. Respecting the expansion of the horse’s foot, it w ould 
* This shoe was usually made with a double row of nails on each side, 
that it might, with more certainty, fit all feet, and it was also very light and 
unfit for permanent application.—C. C. 
VOL. XI. L 1 
