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From the Quarterly Review.

The Horse's Foot, and how to keep it sound; with Illustrations. By WILLIAM MILES, Esq. Exeter, 1846.

A LIVELY French artist, wishing to exhibit English character, drew a Milor and Miladi during their honeymoon they have ridden out together; she is thrown, her horse having stumbled, to whose nose his master applies her smelling-bottle, while the victim of the faux pas lies fainting by herself. Passing these natural consequences of our selling wives like mares at Smithfield, Mr. Miles considers bad farriery as an important item in indifferent husbandry. For the want of a nail, the shoe was lost; for the want of a shoe, the rider was lost:" and how this is to be prevented is shown in his book, which all good men, married

or bachelors, who love sound horse-flesh, should purchase.

The author, after serving his country in the Life Guards, was wounded and taken prisoner by Hymen. Such is the fortune of war, from which neither Mars nor Majors are exempt. His occupation was not however gone, when, like Othello, he bade farewell to plumed troops: buried in happy retirement, near the cathedral of Exeter, he retained his love for neighing steeds, as Virgil's cavalry officers when ghosts in Elysium kept up their stable-duty

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which he has completely mastered, and is indeed a Flavius Vegetius Renatus-for so was named the Roman soldier and gentleman who, some 1500 years ago, wrote the first amateur treatise on veterinary art. Our author combines a clear head with a kind heart and a vein of quiet humor; he handles with equal dexterity hammer and scalpel, pen and pencil, paint-brush and engraver's tools: working and writing with a firm hand, his lanread and understand. As there is no charlatanerie guage is so plain that those even who ride, may in his system, there is no technical jargon in his explanations: nay, he publishes so purely for the "information of the uninformed," that his treatise may be safely laid on any dragoon mess-table. Although scarlet is not our color, yet pleasant is a the constitutional jog in shady lanes, where goosegentle canter on breezy elastic downs, and salutary quill and Albemarle-street are forgotten, and we

owe to the horrors of a sudden stumble the comfort of "Miles on the Horse's Foot."

wardly seems to be one solid block, thicker than a This portion of the quadruped, because it outtandem-driver's head, and made, therefore, to be battered without mercy on roads as hard, contains a mechanism inside that is no less exquisite than those mainsprings of grace which are enclosed in the Cinderella slipper of Taglioni.

are at once elastic and devoid of sensation; thus The horny case is lined with thin plates, that concussion is broken, and blows are not felt. By this admirable combination of solidity and elasticity, the given and most difficult mechanical problem, to wit, the moving a heavy body with great velocity, is solved. The exterior defensive casing is called the "crust" in England, and the "wall"

"Quæ cura nitentes Pascere equos, eadem sequitur tellure repostos." Here our Miles emeritus, possessing a good stud of his own, and enjoying the confidence of his equestrian friends, never wanted four-footed sub-in France, where men are unrivalled in making jects to practise on not content with theory, he phrases, fortifications, and puffs. This crust is did not mould his sabre into a ploughshare or thickest at the fronts of the fore-feet, where the metaphor, but forged it into horseshoes himself, first and greatest shocks are received; and is thinafter the fashion of Mr. Borrow on the great nest-for Nature does nothing in vain-at the northern road, or Portia's Neapolitan prince, who heels, where expansion, not resistance, is required. could not only talk of his horse, but shoe him The ground-surface of the foot is composed of the himself;" and his highness did well, for actual sensitive sole, which is endued with a power of experiment alone conduces to sound conclusion and descent and ascent, according to the pressure on it safe calceolation, which latter, like cookery in the from above, and of the frog, a spongy but less diplomat, constitutes the essence of the Hippiatrist finely organized substance, which swells at the -Heaven save the mark-as the ferrier, the iron-back part; bulby and well defined in the unshod working farrier of yore, is called in new-fangled nomenclature. In vain may professors forge ponderous phraseology, eupodology, hippopathology, &c., &c., until ostlers speak Greek; to make horseshoes of iron is the sum of the modern veterinary craft; all the rest is leather and prunella. The shoe is their difficulty and the horse's weal or woe. The ancients never nailed to the feet of animals those coverings which they well knew the use of as occasional protections; and, we believe, fixtures made of unyielding metal were first fastened to the expanding hoof of English horses by William the Conqueror, whose death, a manifest judgment, was caused by the stumble of his footwounded steed. The name De Ferrers was assumed by his master of horseshoes, whose noble descendant, free from the false shame of Hippiatrists, still proudly charges his supporter with a horseshoe-argent, the canting badge of this chivalresque ancestor.

Mr. Miles, rightly considering the foot to be the important organ of a quadruped destined to go, and the shoe the thing which either makes or mars the foot, has limited his investigations (for the present only, we trust) to these two prominent points,

colt," it is converted," says Mr. Miles, "by the mischievous interference of art-i. e., repeated bad shoeing-into a mere apology for a frog." He descants on the varieties with the gusto of a French epicure. The subject is important: how indeed can a horse be expected to jump if his frog be inactive? This obvious reflection induced Mr. Coleman of the "College" to devise a patent artificial frog," and a "patent grasshopper shoe," with which hunters were to clear six-barred gates; but both inventions unfortunately broke down, amid grins broader than those provoked by the professor's rhyming namesake.

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The exact use of the frog, an open question among professional authors, is left so by our amateur: who shall decide when horse-doctors disagree? All, however, are of accord that its functions are most important, although none can tell what they are. The name frog is a corruption from frush—i. e. the fourche (furca) of the French, for which the German equivalent is gabel, not frosh, their bonâ fide frog; the ancient term yerda had also reference to the fork-like form of the swallow's tail; our unmeaning frog, and its disease, the running-thrush, (frush,) when translated into

grenouille, and merle courante, occasion doubtful | tioned, whenever there is inflammation in the foot, mirth to the parfait marechal of France.

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no horse will stand on it; and "pointing,” in all its varieties, is a sure indication of an attempt to relieve the navicular joint, and to shift the seat of pain. It is not a "trick," as the dealer will say: for a horse is too sensible a beast to inconvenience his whole frame-he never plays any tricks on himself, not even a frolicsome bit of "bishoping” or exhilarating "figging."

Be the names and uses of the frog what they may, the horny wall of the hoof protects three bones in its interior-the coffin, coronet, and navicular the former is let down to the point of the hoof, and represents the first bone of the great toe of the human foot; more correctly speaking, the whole foot of the horse is one toc; the action will be understood by comparing it to that of the fore- The progress of disease in the foot is almost imfinger of our hand, the knee doing the functions of perceptible, and the development of lameness the wrist; a nail driven into this coffin renders a gradual; the spur of a brutal rider and the natural horse dead lame. Nature has placed the second courage of a generous animal will cause much pain bone, the coronet, on the top of this coffin, as is to be borne without flinching, but endurance has done at august funerals. The third bone, the its limits: first the step is shortened, then the navicular, is placed midway behind the two others: ground is struck less forcibly-yet yield at last he although very small, being only 2 inches long must in the unequal struggle of nature against in a horse of 16 hands high," it often bears his iron; and after sinking his head and neck to rewhole weight, and from doing all the hard work is move their weight from the feet, down he comes, the "navie" of the locomotive concern; it rests decidedly lame, to the surprise of his master, who, on a cushion that is interposed between it and the from never suspecting the growing evil, overlooks frog, and which is softer than those eider-down the real cause, and attributes the casualty to some pillows on which Cornish miners dream of the re-recent accident, "my stupid groom," &c. duction of duties on feathers; a tendon passes under the navicular, whose pulley action is facilitated by the secretion of a natural grease. The slightest injury causes inflammation; and "a speck in the bone no larger than a pin's head produces a lameness that defies human art." Neptune therefore, veterinarily speaking, was right, when in creating the horse marine, he substituted a tail for the hind legs, by which a pair of these ticklish naviculars were avoided.

Julius Cæsar, if Pliny and Suetonius write truth, rejoiced in a steed who had human fore-feet, which probably were booted like his grooms. Another Augustan horse-fancier buskined the feet of his favorite nag with plates of silver; while Poppea, the extravagant wife of Nero, used gold for her mules. Caligula made a consul of his horse-a job, beyond doubt, since modern authorities find asses to answer equally for such onerous employment. Be that as it may, classical farriery, when the agricultural mind was instructed in hexameters, is a trifle too poetical for practical men of this prosaic age of iron; and an ordinary quadruped naturally requires double attention, since the greater the number of feet, the greater the chances of risk from accident or ignorance. A four-footed beast that has not one leg to stand upon is not likely to lead to much breaking of the tenth cominandment.

"There is, however," says our author, "perhaps no word in the English language which in its true signification implies so much, and in its usual one means so little, as the epithet "sound" when applied to horses' feet. The great latitude extended to the meaning of words in horse-dealing transactions has shorn it of every attribute which gave it value, until it conveys no other guaranty than this, that the horse is not palpably lame in one foot only; for if he chance to be lame in both fore-feet, the pain of allowing the weight to rest upon either will cause him to pass it as quickly as possible from one to the other, and not only save him from condemnation, but most probably gain for him the reputation of being a quick stepper." -p. 42.

Beware nevertheless of hinting, however delicately, that a gentleman's horse's feet are unsound, since the indignation of the owner is almost as sure to be aroused thereby as if you suspected his wife; yet, although the fact need not be men

Mr.

Miles considers warranties, certificates, &c., to be excellent papers wherewith to light cigars: his earnest advice to a gentleman who has just bought a horse is, to set perseveringly to work by good shoeing, a loose box, and plenty of exercise, to endeavor to make him sound; and those who follow his suggestions will at least have the best chance of attaining this consummation devoutly to be wished for.

In shoeing a horse properly, which requires two good hours, and is very seldom done, three points require consideration: the previous preparation of the feet, the form of the shoe, and the manner of fastening it on. As a general rule, a horse should never be shod in his own stable, but always taken to the forge, where, if the shoe does not fit, it can be altered, which cannot be done at home, where the foot must be fitted to the shoe. Many foolish farriers put the foot in order, as they call it, by rounding it, which they fancy looks pretty. This they effect by cutting away the hoof of young colts, and pinching their feet like those of Chinese ladies, until they can scarcely walk. Where nature perseveres in one form, man, whether making shoes of iron or satin, cannot easily amend the shape. If the horse's foot be fettered, its expansion is circumscribed, by which elasticity is lost and unsoundness originated. The first step before putting on a new shoe is the taking off the old one; the nails must be gently drawn out, which requires as much tact as in managing those of the foot human; all wrenching off, all dragging them violently through the crust, distresses the patient, who struggles to get free as a man does from a rough chiropodist. Forcible extraction injures the lamina of the hoof, which, if once separated, never reünite, but form" shaky places," at which good farriers quake. The shoe once off, the edges of the hoof are to be rasped, and the sole pared out, as a thick one impedes the descent of the coffin bone. An operator errs oftener by removing too little than too much-the frog_excepted, although from its being cut as easily as Gruyere cheese, and its then looking so smooth and clean, “it requires more philosophy than falls to the share of most smiths to resist the temptation to slice away." Mr. Miles, after defining country farrier experience to be an "untiring perseverance for years in one unvaried plan," and that generally a mistaken one, observes that when gentlemen are contented to re

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heels are made bare just where the navicular joint is the most exposed; and if that be inflamed, what must the agony be when the unprotected foot treads on a sharp flint? The horse "falls suddenly lame," or "drops as if he had been shot" "phrases in much too common use to require explanation ;" and small is the pity which the suffering animal meets with from man; who, having first destroyed the use of his victim's feet, abuses him because he cannot go; and imputes "grogginess" to him as a crime, as if he were in liquor like a groom, and not in agony.

main without knowledge, smiths who shoe by rote may be excused-for, after all, they neither wear the shoes nor ride the horse. The wonder is truly that the owner, however learned and dainty as regards his own calceolation, on which the comfort of walking depends, remains indifferent to that of the animal by which he is carried. A good master ought to be able to direct what should be done, and to know if it be well done, which he never will accomplish without some inkling of farriery. The far-spread prejudice of opening out the heels, and carving the frog into shape at every shoeing," horrifies our kind author, who never would allow the The errors of a vicious shoe, and the merits of knife to approach it; for what is sport to the far- a good one, are set forth by Mr. Miles in several rier is death to the frog. This elastic organ, when drawings which he has lithographed himself. By bared of its thin covering texture, cannot stand the placing the two specimens in odious comparison, dry hard road, but shrivels up and cracks, while the reductio ad absurdum is complete. He was enthe edges wear into exfoliations called "rags," abled to offer this treat to the public by having which a tidy smith cuts away because unsightly. most fortunately purchased a horse in Devonshire Their separation should be left to nature, for the with four genuine Damnonian shoes, in which all frog casts off these worn-out teguments as a snake possible defects were concentrated. The originals does his old skin, or a child its first tooth, when a are nailed over his stable door, to the terror of new one formed behind is ready to take its place. every witch, farrier, and old woman in the west The form of the shoe is a question of great con- of England. A propos de botles, when a shoe is sequence to the horse, and of not less difference of properly forged, there is no danger in applying it opinion among men it has perplexed the mind so hot to the hoof as to burn the crust, since irregveterinarian from Solleysel, the father of the art, ularities of the surface are thus discovered and down to the "college; nor can any general rule easily removed. In fixing, or putting on the shoe, be laid down, or any standard pattern given, since it should rest only on the horny rim of the hoof: it every horse has his own particular foot, just as must not press on the sole, and thus cramp its every farrier has his own pet conundrum. A wise springy operation; or encumber the heels, where smith will be governed by the circumstances of the crust is the thinnest and the power of expanevery individual case, and will endeavor to make sion the greatest. As to the very important manhis artificial protection conform as nearly as possi- ner of fastening it on, and number of nails to be ble to the model set before him by nature-that used, Mr. Miles, wishing to ascertain with how guide who never leads astray. The varieties of few this could be effected, began with seven for horseshoes in the " 66 book," the panton, "the the fore-feet and eight for the hind ones, which he "expanding," the "paratrite," &c., exceed those gradually reduced to five and six. This limited in the shops of Hoby and Melnotte. Mr. Miles number has been found to answer perfectly, and has carefully considered the works of his predeces- our author's views were entirely corroborated by sors, and being a thorough master of the anatomy an intelligent and practical bagsman whose life is of the horse's foot, has produced, by a judicious spent on horseback, and by the veterinary surgeon selection of the best points of each, coupled with of a dragoon regiment accustomed to escort the his own original invention, a result which leaves queen at tip-top pace. Thin small nails are the nothing to be desired. His shoes, however, will best, as making the smallest holes in the crust; be better understood by one glance at his engraved they should be driven into the outer quarter, where specimens than by pages of letter-press; suffice it the crust is the thickest, and not forced in too therefore to say that the prevalent notion, that high, but with the points brought out as soon as shoes cannot be too light, is an error. Horses, ex- possible, and clenched down broadly, and then cept at Astley's, are not required to dance; and not too neatly rasped away, which weakens their an ounce more or less, which makes too little dif- hold. The heels and inside quarters are to be left ference in weight either to strain or weary the free. The misery and destruction entailed on back sinews, prevents a shoe bending, and affords horses by nailing their shoes on both sides of the greater protection to the sole and frog. The shoes feet are entirely obviated by this simple system of should be of equal thickness throughout, with a flat one-sided nailing, which is unquestionably the disground surface, as those with high heels, which covery that does most honor to modern farriery; asinine smiths make in imitation of their own, are accordingly its adoption is pressed upon all owners dangerously absurd. The toe, which ought to be and lovers of the noble animal, by Mr. Miles, with raised, is thus lowered, and Nature's plan re- arguments that must carry conviction to all who versed, who elevates the point in order to avoid have heads. This grand specific diminishes at obstructions. The web should be wide, and of once the continual struggle between the expansion the same width throughout, instead of being of the foot and the contraction of the iron. Thus pinched in, because the Vulcan operator "likes to fitted on, the shoe becomes a real comfort and prosee the shoe well set off at the heels." This is tection to the wearer, instead of being a torment both unphilosophical and detrimental; it deceives and incumbrance, and the foot is left nearly in a the eye of man and injures the foot of the horse. state of nature. From the ease which this gives "The outer edge of the foot rests on the inner the animal, one-sided nailing will often cure the edge of the shoe, and the remaining width of the web projects beyond the hoof;" so that a master who thinks his horse has a good open foot, only has to be proud of a bad open shoe, which both conceals deformities underneath and "invites with open arms a bad road to come and do its worst." The

habit of "cutting," or of spoiling his silk stockings, as old Solleysel terms this uncomfortable trick.

It is also the surest method of preventing corns, which are the curse of the stable, and, if Mr. Eisenberg's testimonials be not mere puffs, of the

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house of lords. These corns, white in the feet of | worth Lord George Bentinck's consideration, whennoblemen, are, it may be remarked, red in those ever, his present race being over, the kind stars of horses, being the result of lacerated inflamed permit him to exchange the corrupt atmosphere, blood-vessels; for what is called a corn, ," being tricks, and politics of St. Stephen's for the freshin fact a bruise, is produced by pressure from the aired downs of Newmarket, where, says Mr. heels of the coffin-bone, which itself suffers from Bracy Clarke, in his luminous Podopthora, "wealth, loss of expansive power in the hoof, since Nature, learning often, and horses, do go hand-in-hand." who abhors sinecures worse than Joseph Hume, Note also this wrinkle for fox-hunters :-never, never continues the same measure of effective rep- when the season is over, let the horses' feet rearation to structures which are not employed, that main cramped up in short hunting-shoes, but she does to those constantly occupied in their allot-relieve them by longer ones, just as the rider exted tasks.

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changes his top-boots for slippers: an easy shoeblessings on the man who invented it-comforts a groggy, overhunted horse as much as it does a gouty, overhaunched mayor.

The corn in the horse as well as his master arises from tight shoes, and the crying evil is best remedied by taking them off, and letting the patient stand all day on wet sawdust in a loose box; Mr. Miles, duly estimating the advantages of this answers every purpose of turning him out to freedom of motion, had long converted his stablegrass, without any exposure to colds, accidents, or stalls into boxes, from a dislike at seeing his hobthe organic injuries which arise from over-disten-by-horses treated worse than wild beasts, who at sion of the stomach and bowels. Under all circum- least are allowed to traverse their den. Loose stances, the shoes should be removed every two or boxes are too generally left untenanted because no three weeks, according to the work done on them; horse happens to be an invalid; yet they are more when the heads of the nails are worn away the useful to sound animals than even to sick ones, shoe gets insecure, and will rattle whenever a screw since prevention of disease is better than its cure. is loose quiet is the test of efficient machinery in The poor beast, cribbed, cabined, and confined, nations as well as in individuals, whatever Mes- chained to his rack, and tortured by being unable sieurs Polk and Thiers may predicate to the con- to change position, is put for hours to the stocks, trary. and condemned to the hard labor of having nothing Mr. Miles condemns the mode in which the to do-which destroys dandies and bankrupt complates or shoes of racers are fastened on, in which missioners. The prisoner suffers more from long eight and nine nails are frequently used for fear of standing still than from any trotting on the hardest "casting." No foot, human or equine, can ex-road-it is the rest, not the work, that kills; and pand in a tight shoe; and the horse declines, and very properly, throwing his whole weight with all his heart into his feet. The Derby course is a mile and a half in length; to accomplish which requires 330 good race-strides, of 24 feet each; the loss of one inch on each stride gives 9 yards and 6 inches:

"But suppose the loss to be 4 inches on each stride, which it is much more likely to be, then it would amount to 36 yards 2 feet, or 13 lengths; which is fully enough to raise a cry of" foul play," the "horse is amiss," &c. Now, no jockey in the world, however frequently he may have ridden a horse, can so exactly measure his stride as to be enabled to detect a deficiency of one 72nd part of it, which 4 inches would be, much less could he detect the 288th part, which 1 inch would be: so that he never could make himself acquainted with the real cause of so signal and unexpected a defeat, and the whole matter would remain involved in mystery, casting suspicion and distrust on all around."-p. 35.

Unfortunately, the high-mettled racer, who wears the shoe and knows where it pinches has not the gift of speech like Dean Swift's Houynims. The horse has this deficiency in common with the baby, whence farriers find their cavalry quite as difficult to manage as physicians do their infantry, who cannot explain symptoms.

The falling off of speed which is often observed between a horse's "last gallop" and the race, may be accounted for by his having taken his gallop in his old shoes, to which the feet were accustomed, while the race was run in new ones, firmly nailed on from head to heel, effectually "making him quite safe," by putting it out of the range of possibility that he should ever be enabled to "get into his best pace." Mr. Miles recommends three quarter plates, which should be fastened on by no more than six nails, and these placed only between the outer heel and the inner toe. This is well

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still more, when the pavement of the stall is uphill, which, as his legs are of equal length, and not like a cameleopard's, is at once painful and injurious; he meets the difficulty by standing on his hind toes in order to equalize the weight, and thereby strains his tendons and gets perched." The floor should be perfectly level and paved with granite slabs, which should drain themselves by having herring-bone gutters cut in them, as nothing is more fatal to the eyes of horses than the ammonia so usually generated under them. A box so arranged is not merely a luxury to a horse and mare, but as absolute a necessary as one at the Haymarket is to a lord and lady. Nature is ever our surest guide. The animal when grazing in a field never is quiet a second; frog and sole are always on the move, and therefore in good condition, because they regularly perform their functions; the cushion of the navicular is never there absorbed as it is in an idle stall. If the brains of learned men are liable to be dried up under similar circumstances of olium cum pinguitudine, the soles of irrational creatures necessarily must fare worse: turn the same animals into loose boxes, and the slightest tap on the corn-bin will occasion at least fifty wholesome expansions of every sensitive organ.

Mr. Miles gives working plans of the simple contrivance by which he converted a four-stalled stable into one of three boxes. This suppression of supernumerary stalls was effected by shifting the divisions. A tripartite arrangement is far preferable to solitary confinement, for horses are curious, social animals; they love their neighbors, and like to see what they are at, as much as county families do, whose pews adjoin in their parish church. The best partition is brick noggin, which should be cased with boarding, and surmounted with iron rails the separation should be carried highest near the manger, in order to prevent the company from watching each other at meals-a thing which is not only unmannerly, but

injurious to health. Each hopes to get some of his neighbor's prog, and is also afraid of his neighbor getting some of his; insomuch that the best bred horse, even when next to a pretty filly, invariably bolts his feed-just as a Yankee senator does at a boarding-house table d'hôte, although Fanny Butler sits at his side. Dyspepsia is the sure result of this imperfect mastication.

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-becoming his own farrier. So thought the pupils of Abernethy, after his publication to the world of the panacea blue pill; but take courage, gentlemen," said he, "not one of your patients will ever follow my advice." Mr. Miles, however, like the Oriental hakim, prefers exercise to mercurial treatment-" the best physician is a horse, the best apothecary an ass. Exercise, combined with cleanliness, is meat, drink, and physic for horse and groom; although the latter loves rather to lurk in the larder, and never curries his own Roman-cemented carcase-and thinks, reasoning from his own sensations, that no harm is done to a horse by not going out until his legs begin to swell. A regular daily walking-exercise of two hours is the smallest possible quantity to ensure health; while three or four are much better.

"When masters remember that the natural life of a horse is from thirty-five to forty years, and that three fourths of them die, or are destroyed, under twelve years' old-used up-with scarcely a foot to go upon; I take it," says Mr. Miles," that they will be very apt to transfer their sympathies from the groom, and his trouble, to their own pockets and their horses' welfare.”—p. 41.

One word only on diet. The groom will persist in treating his horse like a Christian, which, in his theology consists in giving him as much too many feeds as he does to himself; but shoes are not more surely forged on anvils than diseases are in the stomach both of beasts and men who make themselves like them. Nature contrives to sustain health and vigor on a precarious, stinted supply, since it is not what is eaten but what is digested that nourishes. Her system should be imitated in quantity and quality; she regulates the former according to the length of the day and the amount of work required to be done, and bids the seasons, her handmaids, vary the latter by a constant change in the bill of fare. Her primitive sauces are air and exercise, and her best condiment, however shocking to the nerves of Monsieur Ude, is mud: more pecks of real dirt are eaten by quadrupeds who graze in the fields, than are of moral dirt by your biped parasites who make love to my lord's eyebrow and Soup-tureen. Provide, therefore, your nice nags with their cruet and salt-cellar, by placing in each manger a large lump of rock-salt and chalk, to which, when troubled with indigestion or acidity, they will as surely resort as the most practised Lon-masters. don diners-out do to their glaubers and potash; nor will they often require any other physic. If a bucket | of water be placed always in their reach, they will sip often, but never swill themselves out to distension, which they otherwise are" obligated to do" (like their valet) whenever liquor comes in their way, in order to lay in a stock like the camels, who reason on the uncertainty of another supply.

Boxes, however beneficial to horses, are unpopular with prejudiced grooms, who have an instinetive dread of improvements which do not originate with themselves; and although in truth few classes are more ignorant of the philosophy and ologies of the horse than stable folk, yet, in common with all who handle ribbons or horse-flesh, they have jockeyed themselves into the credit of being the knowing ones par excellence; accordingly such servants, especially if old ones and treasures, generally rule and teach their masters, for gentlemen pique themselves vastly on connoisseurship of pictures and horses, and are shy of asking questions which imply ignorance. The whole genus groom has an antipathy to any changes which give them more work; they particularly dislike, when they have "cleaned" their charges, to see them, lie down, "untidy" and "dirty" themselves again; they sneer at what they call "finding mares nests;" and pretend that horses eat their beds, as the pious neas and his friends did their tables. But Mr. Miles has invented a remedial muzzle for these gross feeders, of which he gives us an engraving. Boxes again are ruinous to the veterinary surgeon, who fees grooms, since they do away with the great cause of profitable grogginess. These gentry are jealous of amateur farriery, and abhor any revelations to the uninitiated of family secrets in plain intelligible English. Mr. Miles cannot expect to be popular in the west, a latitude which imports rather than exports wise men; the horse-doctor shudders lest disease, death, and himself should be set aside, by every man-Milite duce |

Yet, were it not for the wise provision of nature which causes legs to swell after inaction, and the overlively exuberance of antics by which a fresh horse exhibits his schoolboy exultation of being let loose and getting out of the stable-probably even less than the present poor pittance of exercise would be given by idle grooms and timid

The horny wall of the horse's foot is apt to get dry and brittle in a hot stable where temperature ought to range from 56° to 60°. Dry straw, coupled with excess of heat, produces cracks in the crust, the natural effects of overbaking; this is counteracted by grease and moisture, using the first first-which is an axiom-in order to prevent evaporation. Mr. Miles furnishes the receipt of an ointment which he has found to succeed admirably. In hot summer days the feet should be tied up in a cloth, and occasionally plunged into buckets of cool water; beware, however of washing the feet too soon after exercise, as it checks perspiration and induces fever; clean them when cool, and rub the hock and pasterns dry with the hand-the best of towels; a stopping also at night of fresh cow-dung keeps the frog moist and sweet.

LEGACY.-A bequest of goods and chattels by will. Some parents leave a good name as a legacy to their children; and some children, directly they get the good name, put it on the back of a bill as the best means of turning it into a profit. Many a good name has been eventually dishonored by this process. A legacy is either general or specific. The man who left behind him a receipt for a pill that was a specific for every disease, left undoubtedly a specific legacy. As it is just possible that a man may not have been taxed heavily enough in his lifetime, a tax is laid on his property at his death, called a legacy duty; so that the taxgatherer may be said to pursue his victim even beyond the grave.—Punch.

THE WORSE FOR WEBSTER.-The accusations of fraud and peculation brought against the great American statesman, Mr. Webster, have turned out to be utterly groundless. We fear Mr. Webster will lose his popularity amongst his countrymen in Pennsylvania.—Punch.

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