6 JULY 1878, Page 3

Mr. George Ransom sticks to his case about the uselessness

and mischievouaness of horse-shoes, and says that he has ,tried the unshod feet in swamps as well as on dry ground, in thick damp clay, with stones mixed up in it, and in all sorts of climates, and everywhere the unshod horse does better than the shod horse. Even the Lancet commends the opinion on a priori grounds, and advises a deliberate trial with colts which have never been shod. It does not think that with horses used to iron shoes the experi- ment would succeed. Some of the Veterinary Colleges would certainly do well to institute a sufficient number of experiments, extending over a sufficient length of time, and to publish to the world the results.