644 MR. BROAD IN REPLY TO MR. FLEMING. 
lished in that paper, he did not think it necessary to expose 
its absurdity ! ! 
Why does not Mr. Fleming give proof that stout shoes 
are a fallacy, instead of repeating the assertion ? He refers 
to continental authorities, but surely English Vets, are as 
competent as their neighbours across the Channel to give an 
opinion in a matter of shoeing, inasmuch as my experience 
teaches me that we excel them in the art of shoeing. 
Mr. Fleming has throughout his articles adopted a wrong 
theory, that of direct concussion between the pitching and 
shoe, forgetting that the concussion received by the shoe 
must be diffused through every particle of the iron before any 
portion can he transmitted to the foot. 
The simple scliool-room experiment in physics, of suspend¬ 
ing three balls of equal size, will prove that in the case of the 
light shoe, as with the light centre ball, nearly the whole of 
the concussion is transmitted to the foot or to the outside 
ball; increase the weight of the shoe, or the centre ball, and 
the whole of the concussion is then nearly absolved or dif¬ 
fused by the shoe, or centre ball, without transmitting scarcely 
any to the foot or outside ball. So, with all deference to Mr. 
Fleming’s opinion, my first illustration, viz., the anvil, is 
quite correct. Mr. Fleming has referred to stout shoes being 
in use for the treatment of laminitis in Markham’s days, but 
on reference to Markham’s work I find all that is stated is. 
Shoe, large, strong, and hollow.” Mr. Fleming appears 
either not to know or to ignore the fact, that my laminitis 
shoe is very differently shaped from all other bar shoes, or 
from any that he has in his extensive collection of ancient 
shoes. As Professor Williams has justly stated, it allows the 
horse to put his foot to the ground, as he tries to do, when 
suffering from laminitis, and if Mr. Fleming had had an 
opportunity of testing it, he would have saved himself the 
trouble of writing such elaborate and uninstructive articles to 
endeavour to prove that my practice and theory are wrong. I 
have also heard it stated that there are shoes similar to mine 
in the museums of the Eoyal Veterinary College. By the 
permission of Professor Spooner, Mr. Axe and I thoroughly 
examined all the shoes there, but could not find one any¬ 
thing like it. 
INlr. Fleming also refers to my remarks on his statement of 
riding or driving a horse sixty miles over a hard pavement on 
a hot day in July, and see if it is fit to repeat the journey 
next day. lie then states that Mrs. Fleming and himself 
(“ in September, not a hot day in July rode two well-bred 
horses about thirty-four and a-half miles four days in succes- 
