TRANSLATIONS FROM CONTINENTAL JOURNALS. 739 
according to either of these, the shoe becomes pathological 
or corrective. 
There is one thing with which we cannot, however, agree. 
M. Defays says, at page 12, that when a horse is affected 
with sandcrack, the foot being on the ground, the crack 
opens. We have always found the contrary; that is, it opens 
more when the foot is off the ground, and closes when on 
the ground and the pressure or the weight is on it. Any 
shoeing smith who has ever tried to put a leather strap 
tightly round a foot affected with a sandcrack will tell you 
that, when it is put on, the foot being off the ground, it is loose 
when the foot is down, and that to draw it tight it is necessary 
to throw the weight on the foot by holding up the other. 
When the weight is thrown on the leg the os pedis descends 
by compressing the subjacent soft parts, the yielding hoof 
follows the direction of the bone, and, as a natural conse¬ 
quence, the edges of the crack are brought closer together. 
M. Defays remarks, further on, that he could never under¬ 
stand the practice of putting a leather sole, or any other 
substance, between the shoe and the foot, after having pared 
the foot thin for the purpose. He is of opinion that it is 
much better to leave the natural protection in its integrity, 
which is certainly preferable to anything man can invent. 
The generally received opinion, that the hoof dilates in its 
normal state at its lower surface, which the regular distribu¬ 
tion of the nails would prevent, has led, he states, to the inven¬ 
tion of the unilateral shoes of Messrs. J. Turner and W. Miles, 
to prevent contraction, but their application has led to no more 
favorable result than the articulated shoe, invented for the 
same object; but it is not to be wondered at that they 
should have failed, since they were based on the theory of Bracy 
Clark, to which experience and observation have ere now 
done full justice. The author has provided a shoe for every 
possible contingency, at the same time he passes in review 
all that has been written on shoeing. There are also woodcuts 
of the most complicated pathological shoes, and there is no 
doubt that it is a most useful work for veterinary prac¬ 
titioners. 
