The foot, I have already said, is exposed to many unpleasant effects from this operation. In consequence of depriving the foot of sensation, the animal is unable to distinguish whether he treads upon an even or an uneven surface, whether he has picked up a stone, been wounded in shoeing, or his foot bruised by the tightness of the shoe; the consequence of which is, that suppuration frequently follows these injuries, and, as the animal is still unconscious of what is going on in his foot, he continues to use it until the suppurative process has spread over the whole foot, and the hoof is detached. And, in cases of old standing, where the navicular bone has become ulcerated, the ulcerated surface, now that the parts are deprived of sensation, being brought freely in contact with the tendon, either excites inflammation and suppuration (as the division of the nerves does not here appear to influence or change the action of the vascular system of the foot), which, spreading to the surrounding parts, causes the hoof to be sloughed off; or the rough surface of the bone, now acting freely on the flexor tendon, in a short time, sooner or latter, according to the degree of previous disease or roughness of the bone, wears or cuts the tendon through by friction, and allows the pastern to come to the ground. This renders the animal completely useless, and there are no means by which we can completely guard against these effects, as we seldom know exactly the length of time the foot has been affected, nor the rapidity of the progress, or severity of the disease; and, as it is only by these that we can possibly judge, such judgment must, in many cases, prove fallacious.

I have operated on some horses that have stood sound for years; in others a few weeks determined their fate. I may mention an example of the latter: A poor carter some time ago brought his horse to me, very lame from the disease of which we have been treating; he was, in fact, useless; and I saw that the only thing which could be tried was unnerving. This I considered a forlorn hope, from the extreme lameness, but it was tried. The horse, as usual after the operation, got up sound, and the poor carter, although strictly enjoined to allow him a month or six weeks' rest, was so proud of the change, that, in a fortnight, he rode him to church, a distance of between two and three miles; and, in his vanity in thus showing him off to his acquaintances,

brought on the inflammation which I have already spoken off; the hoof sloughed off in two or three days, and all his hopes were at once blasted.

Such is the unfavourable view which we are compelled to take of this disease; and it therefore becomes of the first im portance to prevent its occurrence. The many plans of shoeing that have from time to time been introduced, sufficiently show its obstinate nature, and have led to the remark, that it is a con sequence of all shoeing, whether good or bad. With the opinion that shoeing is the cause of it, I certainly do agree, though on a somewhat different principle; for it must be observed, that the simple circumstance of the shoe preventing the hoof from being worn, at the same time enables the animal to undergo greater fatigue, and thus exposes the limbs and feet to the injuries already described. The common application of a shoe to the foot of a horse is so familiar to us, that we almost forget that it is an artificial appendage, and that it is by means of it that we are enabled to take so much advantage of his great power and speed. Without it, he would become lame, by his hoofs being broke before he could be made to undergo the exertion productive of grogginess.

If, then, I have been correct in the theory. I have advanced, it must appear that grogginess is, in one point of view, a consequence of all shoeing, good or bad. But it must not be supposed, from what I have advanced, that all kinds of shoes will, in an equal degree, tend to produce the disease; on the contrary, I am of opinion, that much may be done in shoeing to prevent it, some of which means I have noticed in my last letter. But I must again remark, that the more the liberty of the foot is cramped and confined, the more liable will it be to disease; and it must therefore appear, that if a shoe, capable of allowing of the elastic action of the hoof, and calculated for ordinary purposes, could be formed, it would be preferable to all others. Such a shoe has been described in your last number by Mr Whyte; but I am afraid, that, however well Mr Whyte's shoe may appear to answer, when properly executed, the nicety required in forming the spring, and tempering, and the consequent expense, are insurmountable obstacles to the "every-day use" of such a shoe. There is such an endless variety in the

degrees of strength, size, and form of the hoof, that even the best workman, after devoting more than double the portion of time to its formation that is required for a common shoe, would, in almost every case, fail to give it the proper degree of spring on its first application. Although, therefore, it may answer well enough, if proper attention be paid to remove the contraction of the hoof, and also the lameness, where it arises from that cause alone, yet it cannot become a shoe for "every-day use," much less can it remove the disease, which, I have shown, is of a more serious nature than the contraction of the hoof.

But it appears to me, that, if we merely wish to produce the expansion of the hoof, this might be effected by a much simpler process, namely, by the application of Mr Coleman's clip-shoe; this shoe, having clips turned up, so as to press against the bars where they form the junction with the crust at the heels, and that in a proper sloping direction. These clips may be made to act like a wedge in expanding the foot, and that simply by a spring from the heel, or by having a small portion of the heels of the hoof lowered, so that, when the shoe is nailed on the hoof, it may have a space left between it and the shoe: And in this case, as the hoof is capable of descending, or rather has the property of descending, at every step, and as the clips at the junction of the bars are resting on an inclined plane, the heels, as they descend, must be thus expanded or pressed outwards. And the nails are placed on one side, well forward towards the toe, all the effects of Mr Whyte's shoe will be produced, with much less trouble and nicety.

Mr Turner of London has lately proposed that we should apply shoes, in every case, in the same manner as we are in the habit of doing in those cases where a horse is much inclined to cut; that is, applying the common shoe, with the nails extending only round the toe, or doing little more than making the turn of the toe. By this means, no doubt, the foot is left at almost its natural liberty, from the inside being unrestrained by the nails; but this plan, although it has been long adopted for horses which cut themselves, is not had recourse to in the ordinary course of shoeing, nor is it found so secure as when the shoe is nailed further back in the quarter of the hoof, and can only be used in good roads, or in the streets. In the field it is

out of the question.

VOL. II. NO. VIII.

P

Goodwin's shoe I have noticed on a former occasion, as possessing advantages. By keeping the toe short, the concussion is prevented, the power of resistance against the action of the tendons and muscles of the extremity is so far removed, and thus much injury avoided. The best, however, of the new plans of shoeing, is Bracy Clark's jointed shoe, if to it is added a clip at each heel, in the manner I have already mentioned, as in Mr Coleman's shoe, by means of which the great objection to the jointed shoe is removed, namely, the straining of the nails by the motion of the shoe causing the erust to break away, and in this way doing more injury to the foot than all the advantages otherwise gained. But the joint and clips are obstacles to its common use, which it will, as in the case of Mr Whyte's shoe, require a great while to overcome; for the progress of the disease is not very obvious, and these plans, as preventives, are not likely, for a long time at least, to be introduced; while the common-seated shoe will still continue to overcome all those obstacles which have been opposed to it. But even if the objection to all these plans were obviated, still we have the difficulty which I have endeavoured to explain, namely, the circumstance of the shoe, by defending the foot from the wear and tear to which it would otherwise be exposed, enabling the animal to make those exertions we require of him, and thus in many instances producing grogginess, independent of shoeing in every other respect.

I would, in conclusion, remark, that one of the evils of shoeing is, that the whole weight of the animal is suspended by the laminæ, both in a state of exercise and rest. In the first case, this cannot well be overcome; but, in the second, it may be effected, by filling the sole with some substance of an elastic nature, containing moisture; and nothing is better for this purpose than felt, which was first recommended by Mr Cherry of Clapham. The pads thus made not only effect what I have just mentioned, but also, when soaked in water, serve to keep the foot moist, and answer all the purposes of stopping, the use of which, with a loose box, regular exercise, and the other means I have mentioned, will, I think, effect all that can well be done, either to prevent the recurrence of this disease, or effect its removal, when it has once taken place. I am, &c.

ON THE WHEAT-FLY. By Mr ARCHIBALD GORRIE, Annat Garden. In a Letter to the Editor.

SIR,

PERMIT me, through the medium of your valuable Journal, to lay before your readers some account of that fly which has done so much damage to the wheat crops in Scotland, in this and the two past seasons.

With a view to remove some existing prejudices upon the subject, and to ensure the co-operation of practical farmers in destroying this most destructive gnat, I shall give a short history of its habits, as far as I have traced them, and then propose a simple method by which I conceive it may be destroyed.

A question at the outset will very naturally occur, From whence have the flies come, and how have their generations been perpetuated? To this I answer, that I believe they are natives of our island; for I have observed them deposit their eggs, and their maggots come to full perfection, in the ear of one of our native grasses, the Triticum repens of Linnæus; which grass is a species of wheat, and this shows the partiality they have, in common with other insects, for propagating their species on kindred plants. On a most careful examination, I could discover them on no other of the gramineæ. If, then, they are propagated on one of our native grasses, they may have existed in this country even before the introduction of wheat into it, and have been since perpetuated, from year to year, in greater or less numbers, according to the existing temperature which may have brought them into the fly state, at, or some time after, the wheat was in the ear. The The grass above alluded to, better known amongst farmers by the name of "Couch-grass," which comes into ear at different periods of the season, was always sufficient at least to save the breed.

In the Transactions of the Linnean Society, the Rev. W. Kirby gives an account of an orange-coloured gnat, which he calls the Tipula Tritici, which is quoted in Loudon's Magazine of Natural History, with drawings of the insect, the grain, and the larvæ. The drawing representing the female, however, is