NAILING HORSESHOES ON. 
211 
From which it appears, that four nails out of the eight receive 
no counter-support at all; that the other four are supported by 
the shoe alone; and that no two nails can operate with direct 
reciprocity, in consequence of not being in the line of any diame¬ 
ter of the circle. 
The corollary naturally deducible from the foregoing premises 
is— 
That a shoe with the nails placed as recommended by Mr. 
Turner, is not half so secure upon the foot as one nailed accord¬ 
ing to the ordinary method of practice. 
With these facts before us, the question to be considered is, 
whether such holdfasts, as are obtained by the reciprocal sup¬ 
port of all the eight nails, can, in a mechanical point of view , be 
dispensed with by the blacksmith: can he give the shoe its due 
security upon the foot with half the number?—or (what is tanta¬ 
mount to this) with the whole number distributed according to 
the mechanically inefficient stations assigned to them by Mr. 
Turner ? 
My own humble knowledge and experience leads me to as¬ 
sert, that the shoe requires all the support and security it de¬ 
rives from our ordinary nailing; at least for the purpose of 
actual labour and exertion . 
In some such rides, upon some such smooth roads, as some 
gentlemen take in their excursions for pleasure, four nails might 
hold the shoe on as effectually as fourteen. But this is not at 
all to the purpose. 
Again, there are some feet that require every aid and support 
the nails can afford in order to keep shoes upon them, while 
others may be left with half the ordinary security. But this re¬ 
mark is no more to the purpose than the other was. Mr. Tumor 
(as well as myself) speaks of general practice . Exceptions go 
for nothing-. 
It would he idle for me to attempt any thing about the advan- 
