The present volume is occupied, almost exclusively, with an explanation of the best method of shoeing horses. The grand principle, on which Mr. Coleman founds his directions, is that the frog of the foot is intended by nature to bear pressure, and: to come in contact with the ground when the foot is set down. That our readers may understand this position as clearly as it can be stated without the assistance of the prints, we shall extract Mr. Coleman's own words: The frog is an insensible body, externally convex, and placed in the centre of the sole, of a wedge-like form, pointed towards the toe, but expanded as it advances to the heels. In the centre of the broad part there is a fissure, or separation. The frog is connected internally with another frog, of a similar figure, but different in structure. The external frog is composed of soft clastic horn, and totally insensible. The internal frog is much more elastic than the horny frog; it has sensation, is connected above with a small moveable bone, (by some called the shuttle bone,) and at the extremity of the heels with two elastic substances called cartilages. The toe of the sensible frog is united to the coffin bone; but more than nine tenths of both frogs are behind the coffin bone. The toes of the sensible and horny frogs, from their connection with the coffin bone, are fixed points, and have no motion; but the heels of the frogs, being placed posterior to the coffin bone, and in contact with moveable, elastic (and not fixed or resisting) substances, a very considerable lever is formed, and whenever the hoof comes in contact with the ground, the frog first ascends, and then descends. The ascent of the frog expands the cartilages, preserves the heels from contraction, and affords to the horse an elastic spring; while its wedge like form prevents the animal from slipping whenever it embraces the ground. But, without any anatomical enquiry into its internal structure and connection with other parts, the shape and convexity of the frog clearly demonstrate that it was formed to come in contact with the ground? Si -The application of this doctrine to practice is afterward shewn in the following passages! The practice of shoeing very much depends on the functions of the frog being understood. If the opinions here advanced respecting its uses be well founded, then it must follow, that paring the frog, and raising it from the ground by a thick heeled shoe, annihilates its functions, and ultimately, if not immediately, produces disease; and that, applying a shoe thin at the heel, and exposing the frog to pressure, is the only proper method to keep it in health. Moreover, it has been demonstrated, from experience, that unless the frog sustain an uniform pressure, it becoines soft and inflamed, and the heels contracted: but if this organ-be always in close contact with the ground, then it will be callous, insensible, and healthy, and most of the diseases incident to the foot prevented. • The The same degree of pressure applied to the frog, that produces only pleasant sensation when in health, creates exquisite pain when diseased. It is therefore of great importance to preserve the frog sound, for when cut, it becomes highly susceptible of every impres sion; we might with as much wisdom remove the skin of the human foot, when obliged to walk on stones, without shoes.' In the common mode of shoeing, the author observes, the operator pares away the bars entirely, and often a part of the frog. This practice Mr. Coleman strongly condemns, for he considers the existence of the bars as necessary to preserve the heels from contraction; and he regards their removal as predisposing the foot to corns and contraction. The common shoe, when applied after this injudicious paring, acts on the lower edge of the crust in the manner of a vice; and, as the growth of that substance proceeds obliquely outwards, the shoe becomes too small in the course of a month. The outer edge of the shoe thus comes to rest on the sole, instead of the crust, and produces inflammation. Though the expansive power of the crust overcomes the resistance of the shoe nails to its growth, yet they have a powerful effect in diminishing it; and, in process of time, the heels are more or less contracted. The hoof, naturally circular, then becomes oblong. In the third section, the author describes the practice in: shoeing horses which he prefers, and which is now pursued at the Veterinary College: The first thing to be attended to, is to take away a portion of the sole, between the whole length of the bars and crust, with a drawing knife. The heels of the sole, as has already repeatedly? been observed, cannot receive the pressure of the shoe without corns. To avoid pressure, the sole should be made concave or hollow, and not allowed to be in contact with the shoe. If there be any one part of the practice of shoeing, more important than the rest, it is this removal of the sole, between the bars, and crust. When this operation is performed, the horse will always be free from corns, whatever may be the form of the shoe; but, if the sole is suffered to be flat at the! heels, and pressed upon by the shoe, it is of very little importance what kind of shoe is applied. Every groom, and every smith, is fully convinced that the sole will not bear pressure; and to prevent this effect they remove the whole of the bars, by opening the heels, and applying a concave shoe. We have endeavoured to prove, that the destruction of the bar is always improper; that this practice is: the remote cause of corns, the very discase which it is intended to prevent; and that the bars are very necessary to preserve the circular form of the hoof. Besides this, the heels of the shoe should be made to rest on the junction of the bars with the crust; but if the bars are The bars are two processes, which extend diagonally on each side of the hoof, from the frog to the crust, or horny part. removed, removed, then the shoe is supported by the crust only, and not by the solid broad basis of crust and bars united.' For the particular method of paring the sole, we refer the reader to the book. Of the shoe, Mr. C. thus speaks: • After the hoof has been cut, and properly prepared, then it becomes requisite to apply a shoe, and to vary its length, breadth, and thickness, at the heel, surfaces, &c. according to the hoof. If the heels of the fore feet are two inches and a half, or more in depth, the frog sound, and prominent, and the ground dry, then only the toe of the hoof requires to be shortened, and afterwards protected by a short shoe. This shoe is made of the usual thickness at the toe, but gradually thinner towards the heel. A common size saddle horse shoe may be about three-eighths of an inch thick at the toe, and one-eighth at the heel. The intention of this shoe is to bring the frog completely into contact with pressure, to expand the heels, to prevent corns, and thrushes, and canker; and if the shoe be applied when the ground is dry, in the month of May or June, it may be continued the whole summer; and in warm climates, where the ground is not subject to moisture, no other protection for the hoof is requisite.' This passage is followed by directions, adapted to all the varieties which may occur in the state of the hoof, Different methods of paring the crust are also detailed, in cases in which the shape of the hoof has been injured by the common method of shoeing.. The general weight and dimensions of horse-shoes are stated in the following terms: • A shoe and nails, for a moderate sized coach horse, should weigh from eighteen to twenty ounces. This shoe may be about one inch wide at the toe, and three-fourths of an inch at the heel; threesixths of a inch thick on the outside of the toe, and one-sixth on the inside. The heels of the shoe should be only one-sixth of an inch, or one-third the thickness of the toe, A saddle horse shoe with nails may weigh about twelve or fourteen ounces; wide at the toe six-eighths of an inch, but one-fourth less at the heel. The toe of the shoe may be three-cighths of an inch thick on the outside; the inside of the toe and the heel one-eighth. These proportions will be found generally proper for common feet; but it must be obvious that some little variation may sometimes be requisite. If the iron be well formed, the shoes for ordinary labor should last twenty-eight days; and if any horse wears out his shoes before twenty-eight days, the substance of the next shoes may be increased.' The more particular descriptions cannot be understood without referring to the plates; and we suppose that every person, to whom a knowlege of them is necessary, must wish to be possessed of the book itself. The best form for the external surface of the shoe, Mr. Coleman thinks, is a regular concavity; that is, the common shoe reversed. He He advises to nail the shoe all round the toe of the crust, and to preserve the greater part of the quarters free from nails. The head of the nail preferred by him is in the form of a wedge, which, when thoroughly hammered, becomes firmly connected with the nail-hole, so as to form part of the shoe. When the head of the common nail is worn out, on the contrary, the shoe is apt to become loose, We shall add some useful observations on the prevention of cutting: Horses are very liable to strike one leg with the opposite hoof; this accident is termed cutting. The part most frequently bruised, rs, the side of the fetlock joint. Where the toe of the hoof is turned out, the inner quarters of the shoe or hoof are more frequently the parts that do the mischief: but when the toe is turned in, the injury is done by the anterior part of the shoe. If the toe is turned out, the inner quarter of the crust is most frequently lower than the outer. This condition of the hoof necessarily inclines the fetlock joint of the foot that supports the weight, nearer to the foot in motion. Farriers generally attend to the hoof that cuts, and not to the hoof of the injured leg: but while the leg is in the air, no shoe can' alter its direction; and the small quantity of horn, or iron, that can be removed from the hoof and shoe, very rarely prevents cutting. But it is very practicable to alter the position of the leg, that supports the animal; and thus the foot in motion may pursue the same di-, rection without being liable to cut. The outer quarter of the crust should be lowered, and the inner quarter preserved. This operation will tend to make the bottom of the hoof the reverse of its former state, that is, the inside quarter higher than the outside, and this will throw the fetlock joints farther from each other. Where the sole is thin, very little of the crust can be removed from the outside; and then it will be necessary to attend to the shoe. The inner quarter should be thickened, and the outer quarter made thin; which will produce the same effect, as altering the horn; or, if the hoof be sufficiently strong, both these remedies may be em ployed at the same time.' There is reason for congratulating the public on the appearance of these sensible and useful remarks. They augur a salutary change, in a department hitherto enveloped in barbarity and darkness; and though experience may lead to the altera tion of some of the doctrines and some of the practices here recommended, the promulgation of principles arising from scientific discussion must ultimately produce great benefit. It is scarcely within the province of literary critics, to judge of the propriety of such practical directions as are here laid downby Mr. Coleman: by experience only can they be fairly and fully tried :-but, when we consider what improvements have taken place in every other pursuit, connected with the security or the enjoyment of life, we feel great astonishment that the ART. VI. Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, Vol. VI. ANTIQUITIES. A Letter from William Caulfield Lennon, Esq. to the Right Hon. the Earl of Charlemont, President of the Royal Irish Academy, &c. &c. &c. THIS HIS letter contains the description of an image taken from a pagoda in Bangalore, at the storming of that place in 1791. It represents Letchemy, the goddess of riches, fertility, beauty, mirth, courage, joy, eloquence, and matrimony, Who from the variety of her power and patronage is styled Mahay Letchemy, or the Great Letchemy. She is the first wife of Veeshnoo, one of the Treemoortee. or Hindoo Trinity, to whom she was married under the name of Seddees when that god manifested himself to the world under that of Rama, at the court of her terrestrial father Tisseradah Rajah. She is equally worshipped in all the pagodas or temples both of Shivven and Veeshnoo, the former of whom is the chief and most powerful of the Treemoortee. Bruma, the third in consequence and power, has no temples of worship erected to him. She is represented in the habit of a Cunshinnee or dancing girl, as the goddess of mirtir and beauty: the flower sheholds in her right hand is the Taumaray or Indian Lotus, which grows in all the tanks or reservoirs of water, and is the emblem of fertility, as it only grows in water, on which all fertility in that country depends.' The image is composed of the gold, silver, and copper, offered by the votaries who visit the pagodas; these metals are melted down, and cast into the form of the deities. The present of this image to the academy was accompanied by a leaf of the Palmyra, a species of palm-tree, on which a fable is written, in the Malabar language, with an iron style. Two prints of the image are given. An Account of the Manuscript Papers which belonged to Sir Philip Hoby, Knt, who filled several important Offices in the Reign of Edward VI. and which are at present the Property of William Hare, Esq. one of the Representatives in Parliament for the City of Cork. By the Rev. Mr. Hinckes, of Cork. The |