278 ELASTICITY OF THE HORSE'S FOOT. 
rough or fresh macadamized roads. To remedy this, leather 
soles were applied by some persons. But why remove the 
natural protection to substitute an artificial one ? On the Con¬ 
tinent the consequences were not the same; for though expan¬ 
sion was generally espoused, it was not carried out in practice. 
Their system of shoeing is more uniform, and the but¬ 
tress used in paring the feet is not so well adapted for 
scooping out the sole as the more ingenious drawing-knife. 
It has been reported by good observers that the number of 
lame horses is less in Paris than in London, but that may 
depend on other causes. Let it not be supposed that I speak 
disparagingly of the works of Bracy Clark; on the contrary, 
though there are points on which I do not agree with him, I 
hold that his work on the foot is very erudite; and if he had 
done nothing more, he has certainly made us better acquainted 
with the structure of the horse's foot, as well as the origin 
and history of shoeing. 
More than thirty years ago I was engaged on some experi¬ 
ments on shoeing in which paring the feet was inadmissible, 
and this created some doubts in my mind as to the lateral ex¬ 
pansion of the heels. I there and then instituted some direct 
experiments to ascertain the fact, and selected feet which had 
never been shod, as well as those which had been shod, for 
the purpose. I repeated these experiments several times, 
but could not find the least appreciable descent of the sole or 
expansion of the heels. But I do not on that account deny 
the elasticity of the horse's foot; on the contrary, I ascer¬ 
tained that to a limited extent it did exist, principally 
towards the coronet and the heels, and is determined in the 
following manner. When a sound free-going horse in pro¬ 
gression extends his leg and brings his foot to the ground, 
the heels and quarters reach it first; this, however, is hardly 
perceptible; the pressure on the toe is greatest when the 
foot is on the point of leaving the ground; however, when 
the whole weight is thrown on the foot at the moment when 
the other foot is leaving the ground, the soft parts within 
the hoof become compressed, the upper part of the hoof 
yields, its fibres are compressed, the heels descend, and are 
brought into contact with the shoe on the ground. When 
the foot is off the ground it slightly expands. The same 
takes place in the hind feet, with this difference, that the 
motion at the heels is not so great, while the elasticity at the 
coronet is greater than that in the fore feet. 
To resume. The hoof is a horny box, in which are con¬ 
tained the different parts constituting the digits, or what is 
designated the horse's foot. It is composed of three different 
