REVIEW—SHAW ON THE FOOT OF THE HORSE. 227 
less a subject than “ the expansion of the foot ”—a property as¬ 
signed to that organ by our best authors, both French and English, 
and one upon which those admirable theories of its functions, re¬ 
peated by Coleman after others, year after year, to the universal 
delight, if not to the edification, of all those who attended his 
lectures. Professional persons will have no need to be reminded 
how comprehensive the subject of “expansion” is, how extensive 
its relations, how potent its influence. To deny that the horse’s 
foot expands under the weight of the body and action of the limbs, 
would be neither more nor less than to raise the shade of Coleman 
out of the tomb, to make Bracy Clark forget his years, to set off 
James Turner forthwith on an expeditious march after Mr. Shaw. 
Well might our author exclaim at the commencement of his work 
— “It is not without considerable embarrassment I enter on the 
subject.”—“Embarrassment” indeed! Had he written in Cole¬ 
man’s time, he would have had the whole “ College,” profession and 
all, about his ears. It is not to be denied that there were current, 
even in Coleman’s day, whisperings and misgivings concerning this 
vaunted “ expansion.” The late Mr. John Norton, veterinary 
surgeon to the 9th Lancers—who while at College went by the 
sobriquet of “ Jack Norton,” and was acknowledged to be a man of 
first-rate talent and ability—poor “ Jack,” we say, would, on 
his way from lecture down to the “ Adam and Eve,” ever and 
anon come out, as he walked along, with a “-it! I cannot, 
afteT all, possibly comprehend how it is the sole descends and be¬ 
comes flat, and expands the quarters! To me it appears monstrous 
like a piece of dough being placed as a wedge between two oak 
trees to force them asunder.” But this was all entre nous. We 
never heard, nor do we believe, that a syllable of such heterodox 
opinion ever reached the ears of the “ Professor had it, nothing 
less than expulsion from College would have been the communi¬ 
cant’s doom. 
“ Many years ago,” says Mr. Shaw, “ it was stated by (Lafosse, 
not) Le Fosse that the foot of the horse expanded and contracted; 
and he compared it to a saucer which became flattened on pressure 
being applied to its concave (convex?) surface.”-“Mr. Cole¬ 
man, Bracy Clark, and others, followed the track of Le Fosse 
(Lafosse), advocating the descent of the sole, and lateral expansion 
