Such are the outward signs of a weak hoof; but if the person beholding that sort of foot be in any doubt, let him lift it from the ground and inspect the sole. That part will also present peculiarities which can hardly fail to attract attention. The sole of a weak foot has a thin and irregular margin of crust; a flat surface; well-developed bars, and a healthy frog. Creatures with this kind of hoof, when brought to work upon hard roads or London stones, are apt to throw the foot down with heedless force at every step, and thereby soon to bruise the sole. These horses generally have high action, and this circumstance lends additional force to the blow; the injury reaches the coffin-bone, which begins to enlarge, and ultimately forces the horny sole outward. A pumice foot has the appearance of the member represented on the next page, though the reader must not anticipate the illustration will accurately indicate every stage of the disorder. Feet of the above description generally have very weak and brittle crusts; but the frog almost invariably is large and prominent; there is no kind of foot which so generally exhibits a healthy frog, and the next page shows an engraving of the ground surface of a pumice foot, in illustration of the fact. There are many methods proposed for amending a pumiced foot. One is the removal of the shoe; then allowing the deformed foot to stand a certain portion of time upon flat flag-stones. But as stamping the foot upon stones produced pumice foot, prolonged stress thereon does not seem calculated to remove the deformity. A pumice foot is not a lump of pudding, to be flattened by simple pressure. In the horse's hoof there is bone and flesh to operate upon. Even supposing the standing upon flag-stones was beneficial, what immediate result could be anticipated from a medicine which was to be administered once in three weeks, and for half an hour only at each application? [Illustration: THE SIDE VIEW OF A PUMICED FOOT. Showing the swollen or rounded state of the sole, with the brittle and uneven condition of the crust.] [Illustration: THE SOLE OF A PUMICED FOOT. Displaying a ragged wall, and exhibiting a very healthy frog and a bulging sole.] Another artifice is to draw a hot iron over the sole at every shoeing. The intention is to stimulate the horn and thus render the sole of greater thickness. But that which may affect the secreting membrane of the foot may also stimulate the bone to which that membrane is attached. Thus the intended remedy may turn out to be a positive aggravation. There are also other methods of intended relief, but all are equally useless. [Illustration: A PUMICED FOOT DIVIDED. Showing the altered state of the internal structures.] [Illustration: A DISH SHOE. Employed in cases of severe pumice foot.]