ELASTICITY OF THE HORSE’S FOOT. 277 
the different parts which constitute the horse’s foot, says, 
“ finally, the elasticity pervades every part of the hoof.” 
Professor Coleman, in his work on the foot, 1802, takes 
nearly the same views of the elasticity of the hoof as MM. 
Lafosse and Bourgelat. In 1809 the best work on the 
horse’s foot appeared from the pen of Bracy Clark. Though 
the anatomy of the foot is most accurately described, the 
work is principally directed to the mode of shoeing, of which 
he gives a most erudite history. He enumerates with great 
care all the prejudices and abuses in the practice of shoeing, 
and to it he attributes the principal causes of the deteriora¬ 
tion of the hoof. To demonstrate more accurately the injury 
caused by shoeing, the author begins by describing the elas¬ 
ticity of the hoof, of which he claims the first discovery, 
which, according to him, consists principally in the descent of 
the sole, and the lateral expansion at the heels, in which certain 
functions are attributed to the frog rather inconsistent with 
its structure. The theory of Bracy Clark was generally 
adopted on the Continent as well as in England, his work 
being translated into French and German. In this country 
it had the effect of introducing a better system of shoeing, 
and led to the adoption of a better shoe, thinner at the heel, 
and consequently lighter, put on with fewer nails, and these 
placed further from the heels; but it also led to that most 
objectionable system of paring the feet, opening the heels, 
and sometimes rasping off the inside quarter to promote the 
supposed expansion of the heels. Whether this cutting, 
paring, and rasping, with soaking and softening of the feet, 
did or did not produce some of the results advocated by the 
author, it would be difficult to say; but if so, it could only 
be the effect of the abnormal, and not the normal, condition 
of the parts. A question might be asked, did not the paring 
of the feet, until the sole sprang under the thumb, and blood 
was all but drawn, as was recommended and generally fol¬ 
lowed in all shoeing establishments, lay the foundation of 
navicular disease ? This source of lameness was up to that 
time unknown, and is now of much rarer occurrence, since a 
more rational plan has been adopted, although the roads are 
still as hard, and the pace, since the introduction of railways, 
is quite as much accelerated. There is no doubt that by 
paring and rasping of the sole, frog, and crust, the parts 
which were immediately covered by them became more ex¬ 
posed to external injury; and the hoof, becoming dry and 
brittle, was much deteriorated, and disposed to contraction; 
one half of the horses were thereby more or less crippled, 
and it was painful to see tender-footed animals travel on 
