THE ART OF SHOEING SIMPLIFIED. 
127 
in o'by side-nailing: but I fear you will accuse me of being* 
somewhat touched with enthusiasm, on my venturing* the pre¬ 
diction of two events; first, that it will very shortly be generally 
practised throughout these kingdoms; secondly, its beneficial 
effects will become so manifest, even to the most prejudiced 
eye, that it will be hailed as a new sera in veterinary history, 
or as the epoch of the emancipation of the art of horse¬ 
shoeing. 
Shortly after the publication in The Veterinarian of my 
expose on shoeing, I w as assailed, in no very measured terms, 
by the relatives of Mr. Bracy Clark: to these dutiful advocates 
of that author 1 instantly replied, as most of you are aware. 
Having been called upon by them to avow r from whom I 
derived the knowledge of the principle of elasticity or expansion 
of the foot of the horse, and secondly, of the injurious effects of 
the continued application of iron and nails, in impeding or 
restraining the natural expansion of the hoof, I answer, that 
on both these points I derived my information from the same 
source which enlightened Mr. Bracy Clark himself; viz. a work 
which is sufficiently old to have become the common property 
of us all,—I mean cn the Mechanism of the Horse's Foot, with 
Us natural spring explained, published by Strickland Freeman, 
Esq . as long ago as 1796, several years prior to Mr. Bracy 
Clark’s first publication on the foot. It was Mr. Freeman, not 
Mr. Bracy Clark, who first explained these great truths, so as 
to render them intelligible to others, as the following extracts 
amply testify. However, as the last September number of The 
A eterinarian contains an impartial review by its Editors of 
the claims of Mr. Bracy Clark to the discovery of the expansion 
of the horse s foot, I shall merely advert to one more passage 
in Mr. Freeman's work, which is unnoticed by the Editors of 
The \ eterin'arian, but important, in case Mr. Clark should 
attempt to argue that Mr. Freeman's views of the expansive 
principle was limited, like those of his predecessors, to the 
heels only, instead of the entire horny box participating in the 
expansion. A short sentence at page 3, and which I am aston¬ 
ished should have escaped the eyes of the Reviewers, sets this 
matter for ever at rest: “ The hoof of the fore foot of the 
horse produces an elasticity continued from the quarters to the 
points of the toe” 
Now, with regard to the second point, the nailed fetter, I 
am more personally concerned; and on which the Editors of 
1 he \ eteri nari an have been as yet silent. Mr. Freeman, at 
page 81, remarks on the absolute necessity there is of putting 
on plate shoes when an exact trial is required between race- 
