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leather smooth; the shoes are then carried to the grindstone, by which they are polished, and finished up in every part, the soles blacked, and polished by the wheel with a composition of bees' wax and ivory black, which renders them glossy the upper leathers are then brushed by a circular brush, which is turned by the lathe, and the shoes are rendered fit for sale, except those which require binding and lining, with a lining of thin leather, in which case they are finished in the same manner as common shoes.

The Society of Arts have shown a laudable desire to recommend various machines to the trade, to enable the workman perform his operations without so much sitting in a bent posture. The first of these was Mr. Holden's, then Mr. Parker's, and next Mr. Stas's, whose machine, being the most approved, demands some description. A small bench, or table, is firmly supported on four legs, at about four feet from the ground; a circular cushion is affixed upon the bench, having a hollow or basin in the centre of it, with a hole from the bottom of the hollow, quite through the cushion, and also through the centre of the bench. This hole receives a strap, which is doubled, and the two ends sewed together. The last is put into the double of the strap, and it is drawn down by a treadle, so as to hold the last firmly in the hollow of the cushion, which is stuffed soft withinside; and, as the hole through the cushion is too small for the shoe to pass down, the last can be set in any direction which is most convenient for the sewing; but, by relieving the treadle, it can be removed in an instant, turned round, and fixed again to sew another part. A seat can be applied in front of the machine, for the workman to rest himself occasionally: this seat is supported by only two legs, and a piece of wood, which projects horizontally from beneath the seat, and enters into a mortise, made in a part of the frame. Upon this the workman sits astride, as if upon a saddle; and, as his work is held before him at a proper height, he sits in an upright posture, which is not attended with the same prejudicial effects as stooping to work upon the knee. The machine is provided with a small tray, or box, behind the cushion, to contain all the small articles which the work requires; also a drawer beneath it for tools, &c.; a whetstone fixed up at a convenient height; and an anvil, which fits into the hollow of the cushion, so as to lie firmly, to hammer the leather upon instead of a lapstone.

SHOE OF AN ANCHOR, a small block of wood, convex on the back, and having a small hole, sufficient to contain the point of the anchor fluke, on the foreside. It is used to prevent the anchor from tearing or wounding the planks on the ship's bow, when ascending or descending; for which purpose the shoe slides up and down along the bow, between the fluke of the anchor and the planks, as being pressed close to the latter by the weight of the former.

To SHOE AN ANCHOR, is to cover the flukes with a broad triangular piece of plank, whose area or superficies is much larger than that of the flukes. It is intended to give the anchor a surer hold of the bottom in very soft and oozy ground.

SHOEING, in farriery. Horses, and other animals destined to labor, are shod with iron, in order to defend and preserve their hoofs. As feet differ, so should shoes.

In a treatise on this subject, by Mr. Clark of Edinburgh, the common form of shoes and the method of shoeing are, with great reason, condemned, and a new method recommended, which seems founded on rational principles, and to have been confirmed by experience. In preparing the foot for the shoe according to the common method,' our author observes, the frog, the sole, and the bars or binders, are pared so much that the blood frequently appears. The common shoe by its form (being thick on the inside of the rim, and thin upon the outside) must of consequence be made concave or hollow on that side which is placed immediately next the foot, in order to prevent its resting upon the sole. The shoes are generally of an immoderate weight and length, and every means is used to prevent the frog from resting upon the ground, by making the shoe heels thick, broad, and strong, or raising cramps or caukers on them. From this form of the shoe, and from this method of treating the hoof, the frog is raised to a considerable height above the ground, the heels are deprived of that substance which was provided by nature to keep the crust extended at a proper wideness, and the foot is fixed as it were in a vice. By the pressure from the weight of the body, and resistance from the outer edges of the shoe, the heels are forced together, and retain that shape impressed upon them, which it is impossible ever afterwards to remove; hence a contraction of the heels, and of course lameness. But farther :

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The heels being forced together, the crust presses upon the processes of the coffin and extremities of the nut-bone: the frog is confined, and raised so far from the ground that it cannot have that support upon it which it ought to have: the circulation of the blood is impeded, and a wasting of the frog, and frequently of the whole foot, ensues. Hence proceed all those diseases of the feet known by the names of founder, hoof-bound, narrow heels, thrushes, corns, high-soles, &c. The bad effects of this practice are still more obvious upon the external parts of the hoof. The crust towards the toe, being the only part of the hoof free from compression, enjoys a free circulation of that fluid necessary for its nourishment, and grows broader and longer; from which extraordinary length of toe, the horse stumbles in his going, and cuts his legs. The smaller particles of sand insinuate themselves between the shoe and the heels, which grind them away, and thereby produce lameness. All this is entirely owing to the great spring the heels of the horse must unavoidably have upon the heels of a shoe made in this form. This concave shoe in time wears thin at the toe, and, yielding to the pressure made upon it, is forced wider, and of consequence breaks off all that part of the crust on the outside of the nails. Instances of this kind daily occur, insomuch that there hardly remains crust sufficient to fix a shoe upon.

'It is generally thought that the broader a

shoe is, and the more it covers the sole and frog, a horse will travel the better. But, as has been formerly remarked, the broader a shoe is of this form, it must be made the more concave; and, of consequence, the contracting power upon the heels must be the greater. It is likewise to be observed that, by using strong broad-rimmed concave shoes in the summer season, when the weather is hot and the roads very dry and hard, if a horse is obliged to go fast, the shoes, by repeated strokes (or friction) against the ground, acquire a great degree of heat, which is communicated to the internal parts of the foot; and, together with the contraction upon the heels occasioned by the form of the shoe, must certainly cause exquisite pain. This is frequently succeeded by a violent inflammation in the internal parts of the hoof, and is the cause of that disease in the feet so fatal to the very best of our horses, commonly termed a founder. This is also the reason why horses, after a journey or a hard ride, are observed to shift their feet so frequently, and to lie down much. If we attend further to the convex surface of this shoe, and the convexity of the pavement upon which horses walk, it will then be evident that it is impossible for them to keep their feet from slipping in this form of shoe, especially upon declivities of the streets.

'It is also a common practice to turn up the heels of the shoes into what are called cramps or caakers, by which means the weight of the horse is confined to a very narrow surface, viz. the inner round edge of the shoe-rim and the points or caukers of each heel, which soon wear round and blunt; besides, they for the most part are made by far too thick and long. The consequence is, that it throws the horse forward upon the toes, and is apt to make him slip and stumble. To this cause we must likewise ascribe the frequent and sudden lameness horses are subject to in the legs, by twisting the ligaments of the joints, tendons, &c. I do not affirm,' says our author, that caukers are always hurtful, and ought to be laid aside: on the contrary, I grant that they, or some such-like contrivance, are extremely necessary, and may be used with advantage upon flat shoes where the ground is slippery; but they should be made thinner and sharper than those commonly used, so as to sink into the ground, otherwise they will rather be hurtful than of any advantage.

"In shoeing a horse, we should in this, as in every other case, study to follow nature: and certainly that shoe which is made of such a form as to resemble, as near as possible, the natural tread and shape of the foot, must be preferable to any other. But it is extremely difficult to lay down fixed rules with respect to the proper method to be observed in treating the hoofs of dif ferent horses: it is equally difficult to lay down any certain rule for determining the precise form to be given to their shoes. This will be obvious to every judicious practitioner, from the various constructions of their feet, from disease, and from other causes that may occur; so that a great deal must depend upon the discretion and judgment of the operator, in proportioning the shoe to the foot, by imitating the natural tread, to prevent the hoof from contracting a bad shape.

It is to be remembered that a horses shoe ought by no means to rest upon the sole, otherwise it will occasion lameness; therefore it must rest entirely on the crust: and, in order that we may imitate the natural tread of the foot, the shoe must be made flat (if the height of the sole do not forbid it); it must be of an equal thickness all around the outside of the rim; and, on that part of it which is to be placed immediately next the foot, a narrow rim or margin is to be formed, not exceeding the breadth of the crust upon which it is to rest, with the nail-holes placed exactly in the middle; and from this narrow rim the shoe is to be made gradually thinner towards its inner edge.

'The breadth of the shoe is to be regulated by the size of the foot, and the work to which the horse is accustomed: but, in general, it should be made rather broad at the toe, and narrow towards the extremity of each heel, in order to let the frog rest with freedom upon the ground. The necessity of this has been already shown. The shoe being thus formed and shaped like the foot, the surface of the crust is to be made smooth, and the shoe fixed on with eight or at most ten nails, the heads of which should be sunk into the holes, so as to be equal with the surface of the shoe. The sole, frog, and bars, as I have already observed, should never be pared, farther than taking off what is ragged from the frog, and any excrescences or inequalities from the sole. And it is very properly remarked by Mr. Osmer,

That the shoe should be made so as to stand a little wider at the extremity of each heel than the foot itself: otherwise, as the foot grows in length, the heel of the shoe in a short time gets withir. the heel of the horse; which pressure often breaks the crust, and produces a temporary lameness, perhaps a corn.' But so much are farriers, grooms, &c., prejudiced in favor of the common method of shoeing and paring out the feet, that it is with difficulty they can even be prevailed upon to make a proper trial of it. They cannot be satisfied unless the frog be finely shaped, the sole pared, and the bars cut out, in order to make the heels appear wide. This practice gives them a show of wideness for the time; yet that, together with the concave form of the shoe, forwards the contraction of the heels, which, when confirmed, renders the animal lame for life.

In the flat form of shoe, its thickest part is upon the outside of the rim, where it is most ex posed to be worn; and, being made gradually thinner towards its inner edge, it is therefore much lighter than the common concave shoe: yet it will last equally as long, and with more advantage to the hoof; and, as the frog or heel is allowed to rest upon the ground, the foot enjoys the same points of support as in its natural state. It must therefore be much easier for the horse in his way of going, and be a means of making him surer footed. It is likewise evident that, from this shoe, the hoof cannot acquire any bad form; when, at the same time, it receives every advantage that possibly could be expected from shoeing. In this respect it may very properly be said that we make the shoe to the foot, and not the foot to the shoe; as is but too much the case in the concave-shoes, where the foot

very much resembles that of a cat's fixed into a walnut-shell. It is to be observed that the hoofs of young horses, before they are shod, for the most part are wide and open at the heels, and that the crust is sufficiently thick and strong to admit of the nails being fixed very near the extremities of each. But, as I have formerly remarked, from the constant use of concave shoes, the crust of this part of the foot grows thinner and weaker; and when the nails are fixed too far back, especially upon the inside, the horse becomes lame: to avoid this, they are placed more towards the fore-part of the hoof. This causes the heels of the horse to have the greater spring upon the heels of the shoe, which is so very detrimental as to occasion lameness; whereas, by using this flat form of shoe, all these inconveniences are avoided; and if the hoofs of young horses, from the first time that they were shod, were continued to be constantly treated according to the method here recommended, the heels would always retain their natural strength and shape.

'It has been alleged that, in this form of shoe, horses do not go so well as in that commonly used. This objection will easily be set aside, by attending to the following particulars. There are but few farriers that can or will endeavour to make this sort of shoe as it ought to be. The iron, in forming it, does not so easily turn into the circular shape necessary as in the common shoe; and, perhaps, this is the principal reason why they object to it, especially where they work much by the piece. And, as many horses that are commonly shod with concave shoes have their soles considerably higher than the crust, if the shoe is not properly formed, or if it is made too flat, it must unavoidably rest upon the sole, and occasion lameness. The practice of paring the sole and frog is also so prevalent, and thought so absolutely necessary, that it is indiscriminately practised, even to excess, on all kinds of feet: and, while this method continues to be followed, it cannot be expected that horses can go upon hard ground (on this open shoe) with that freedom they would do if their soles and frogs were allowed to remain in their full natural strength. There is one observation I would farther make; which is, that the shoe should be made of good iron, well worked, or what smiths call hammer-hardened, that is, beaten all over lightly with a hammer when almost cold. The Spanish and Portuguese farriers use this practice greatly, insomuch that many people, who have seen them at work, have reported that they form their horses' shoes without heating them in the fire as we do. It is well known that heating iron till it is red softens it greatly; and, when shoes thus softened are put upon horses' feet, they wear away like lead. But, when the shoes are well hammered, the iron becomes more compact, firm, and hard; so that a well-hammered shoe, though made considerably lighter, yet will last as long as one that is made heavier; the advantage of which is obvious, as the horse will move his feet with more activity, and be in less danger of cutting his legs.

The common concave shoes are very faulty

in this respect: for, in fitting or shaping them to the foot, they require to be frequently heated, in order to make them bend to the unequal surface which the hoof acquires from the constant use of these shoes: they thereby become soft: and to attempt to harden them by beating or hammering when they are shaped to the foot would undo the whole. But flat shoes, by making them, when heated, a little narrower than the foot, will, by means of hammering, become wider, and acquire a degree of elasticity and firmness which it is necessary they should have, but impossible to be given them by any other means whatever; so that any farrier, from practice, will soon be able to judge, from the quality of the iron, how much a shoe, in fitting it to the circumference of the hoof, will stretch by hammering when it is almost cold: this operation, in fitting flat shoes will be the less difficult, especially when it is considered that, as there are no inequalities on the surface of the hoof (or at least ought not to. be) which require to be bended thereto, shoes of this kind only require to be made smooth and flat; hence they will press equally upon the circumference or crust of the hoof, which is the natural tread of a horse.'

Mr. Moorcroft, a late ingenious veterinary practitioner in London, avowed a preference to this kind of shoe, which he calls the seated shoe,' and which he formed in a die, in the same manner that money is struck in coining. His account of it is as follows:- The shoe best calculated to answer the purpose,' says he,' is that so strongly recommended by Mr. Osmer and Mr. Clark. The upper surface of this shoe consists of two parts: an outer part, which is a perfect plane near the rim, corresponding with the breadth of the crust, and called the seat; and an inner part, sloping from the seat, and distinguished by the name of the bevel. The seat is obviously intended to support the crust in its whole extent, the bevel to lie off the sole; and this part, being more or less broad, according to the kind of work proposed to be done, will give the requisite strength to the shoe. As the whole of the crust bears on the seat, it is less liable to be broken than when only a small part of it rests on the shoe. In consequence, likewise, of the crust resting on the flat seat, the weight of the body has a tendency to spread the foot wider in every direction, rather than to contract it, as has been observed to happen with the common shoe: and it has in fact been found, in various instances, that a foot contracted by the common shoe, and afterwards shod with the seated one, has become wider without the horse having been taken from his usual work; and again, that a foot, being of a full size and proper form when first shod with the seated shoe, has retained the same size and form, without the slightest alteration, as long as the seated shoe was used. By the slope or bevel in the shoe, a cavity is formed between it and the sole, sufficient to admit a picker, and to prevent pressure on this part, without the sole itself being hollowed, and consequently weakened. For if it be one of the functions of the horny sole to defend the sensible sole, of which, from its situation and nature, no one can doubt, it must

be evident, that the more perfect it is left, the stronger it must necessarily be, and of course the more competent to perform its office.'

Mr. Coleman, however, states as objections, that the sole may be pressed by this form of the shoe, and that the flat part of the shoe is made of the same breadth at the quarters as at the toe. These objections, however, bear rather on an imperfect practice, than an erroneous principle, in Osmer's mode of shoeing, as may be seen above, where direction is given to slope or bevel the shoe, that a cavity may be formed between it and the sole. But the grand objection of the smiths, probably, to Osmer's shoe, subsists in its being somewhat more difficult to forge than the common one to which they have been accustomed.

Professor St. Bel, who has not on all points reasoned so correctly, observes, that the feet of horses at their inferior surface are naturally concave, flat, or convex. Suppose, for instance, a foot well formed and properly concave; a second flat; and a third convex. The inconveniences attending the convex and flat foot will be considerably increased by shoes with a similar surface, because the iron of the shoe being harder than the horn of the hoof presents a smoother and more polished surface, and, consequently, more liable to slip. On this account, therefore, it is, that I have proposed the concave shoe, that is to say, concave in its lower surface, because it represents the natural shape of the foot, and because it fulfils, in every respect, the views and intentions of nature; and I am therefore convinced that it ought to be applied to all good feet. As some cases are to be excepted from every general rule, so here the use of the concave shoe is to be excepted from the case of a flat foot, and especially of a convex one: but it does not follow from this exception that the use of this shoe may not become general in time; because it must be remembered that fee only become flat and convex through bad shoe.ng, or by some accident, as when a horse is foundered; and that no horses, not even those bred in marshy and low lands, are foaled with this imperfection. Nor can we be justified in accusing nature with having neglected to provide sufficiently for the foundations of this admirable machine, when at the same time the same machine affords us so many convincing proofs both of her wisdom and her providence. It is also of principal importance to determine the weight of the shoe; for it is matter of astonishment to see some horses with shoes weighing each five pounds, making together a burden of twenty pounds of iron attached to their four feet. It is obvious to common sense that such an additional weight fixed to the extremity of the leg must be productive of some inconvenience or other; and, in fact, the muscles are thereby compelled to greater exertion, the ligaments are stretched, and the articulations continually fatigued: and, besides all these evil consequences, the shoe by its weight forces out the nails, and so entirely spoils the texture of the wall, or crust, that it becomes often extremely difficult to fix the shoe to the hoof. The weight which we propose for shoes of different kinds is nearly as follows:

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By reducing the superfluous breadth of these shoes, their thickness may be increased without making any addition to their weight.'

Mr. Coleman expresses his sentiments of the shoe proposed by Mr. St. Bel in the following words: Mr. St. Bel employed a shoe with a flat upper surface; but, from not attending to the very important operation of removing the sole under the heels of the shoe, to every kind of hoof, it frequently failed of success.

The best form for the external surface of the shoe is a regular concavity; that is, the common shoe reversed. This shoe leaves the hoof of the same figure when shod as before its application. And it is evident that a concavity has more points of contact with pavement and other convex bodies than a flat or convex surface, and that the horse is consequently more secure on his legs. A shoe that is flat externally may preserve the hoof equally well in health; but this form is not so well calculated to prevent the horse from slipping as a concavity. There are two circumstances necessary to be attended to in shoeing, viz. to cut the hoof and apply the shoe. Before the hoof is protected by iron, some parts require to be removed, and others preserved. This is even of more importance than the form of the shoe. But many have attended chiefly to the shoe, and not to its application, or to the hoof; and this error has produced more mischief, and more enemies to the Veterinary College, than all the prejudices and calumnies of grooms and farriers. 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; for the heels of the sole cannot receive pressure without corns. To avoid this, the sole should be made concave, so as not 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 is done, the horse will always be free from corns, whatever may be the form of the shoe. Besides this, the heels of the shoe should be made to rest on the junction of the bars with the crust: whereas, if the bars are removed, the shoe is supported by the crust only, and not by the solid broad basis of crust and bars united.

It is necessary that the sole should be cut before any other part of the hoof be removed. If the heels have been first lowered by the butteris, then possibly there may not be sufficient sole left to enable a drawing-knife to be applied, without reaching the sensible sole; whereas, by cutting the sole in the first instance, we can determine on the propriety of lowering the heels and shortening the toe. The sole can then descend, without the motion being obstructed by the shoe ; and any foreign bodies that may have got into this cavity are always forced out when the sole descends, without producing any mischief.

When the shoe is applied, the cavity between the sole and shoe should be sufficiently large at every part to admit a large horse picker, and particularly between the bars and crust. If the sole is naturally concave, a shoe with a flat surface applied to the crust will not touch any part of the sole; and if the sole be flat, or even convex in the middle, or towards the toe, the quarters and heels of the sole will generally admit of being made concave with a drawing-knife, so as not to receive any pressure from a flat shoe. If a shoe with a flat upper surface does not leave ample space for a picker, between the sole and shoe, then it is requisite to make either the sole or the shoe concave. When the sole appears in flakes, and thick in substance, it will be better to make the whole of the sole concave by a drawing-knife; and this operation should always be performed before the toe is shortened or the heels lowered. When we have made the sole hollow, then a shoe with a flat surface will rest only on the crust; but if the sole be flat, or convex, and thin towards the toe and middle of the hoof, so as to prevent the possibility of removing the sole at these parts to form a concavity, then it is necessary to employ a shoe sufficiently concave to avoid pressure, and to admit a picker. In this case, however, the sole at the heels and quarters, even in convex feet, will generally allow of removal with a drawing-knife, and then the quarters and heels of the shoe may be flat. It therefore follows that, where the sole can be made concave, a shoe with a flat surface may with safety be applied; but where parts of the sole, from disease or bad shoeing, become flat, a shoe with a concave surface is required. As the hoof is always growing, and as the shoe preserves it from friction, the toe of the crust requires to be cut once in about twenty-eight days. The more horn we can remove from this part, the sooner it will be proper to apply a shoe thin at the heels, without mischief to the muscles and tendons, and the horse will be less liable to trip.

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The bars and frog should never be removed. What is ragged and detached had better be cut off with a knife by the groom than left to the farrier, who will perhaps remove some of the sound parts. Where the frog is not large and projecting, the heels may be lowered by a rasp or the butteris; for in every case we are to endeavour to bring the frog in contact with the ground. The frog must have pressure or be diseased. See FROG. Nevertheless, when the frog has been disused for a considerable period, and become soft, it must be accustomed to pressure by degrees. If the quarters are high, and much exceed the convexity of the frog, we should gradually lower the heels, and endeavour to bring the frog and heels of the shoe on the same parallel line. Where work is required of the horse, while the frog is soft and diseased, it may be gradually used to pressure, by lowering the hoof about the tenth of an inch every time of shoeing, until the frog be hard, and equally prominent with the heels; or, if the horse 13 not wanted, great advantage would be derived from his standing without shoes on a hard pavement. After the hoof has been properly prepared, then it is 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 made of the usual thickness at the toe, but gradually thinner towards the heel. For a common sized saddle-horse it may be about three-eighths of an inch thick at the toe, and one-eighth at the heel. The intention is, to bring the frog completely into contact with the ground, to expand the heels, prevent corns, thrushes, and canker. If applied in May or June, when the ground is dry, it may be continued all the summer; and in warm climates, where this is the case, no other protection for the hoof is requisite.'

The professor here observes that, so long as the wear of the hoof is not greater than the supply afforded by nature from the coronet, so long may the short shoes be worn; but in wet weather this is not the case. 'I have known,' says he,

some light horses to wear them the whole year; but such instances are not common. Nevertheless, the short shoe can be employed on most horses with advantage in summer, when the heels are from two and a half to three inches in depth, and the frog equally prominent; but, unless the hoof has been properly preserved, the heels and frog are generally too low for the short shoe. The toe of the horse requires to be shortened as much as possible; but, if the frog touches the ground, no part of the heels should be cut; and, by pursuing this practice, the heels will frequently grow sufficiently high to receive the shor shoe.'

Mr. Lawrence, on the other hand, in his Philosophical and Practical Treatise on Horses, questions, on various grounds, the correctness of the term pressure, as of late years applied to the frog of the horse's foot; asserting that, in great numbers of feet, in their natural and healthy state, the frog is not of sufficient growth or bulk for such purpose; and that the frogs of most horses, even amply furnished by nature with that part, are too sensible and tender to admit of being exposed to constant contact with the hard roads, for which, however, he is a strenuous advocate whenever practicable, as he is for the concavity of the external surface of the shoe, the discovery of which he attributes not to St. Bel, but to Cæsar Fiaschi, who lived many centuries past. Mr. Lawrence observes- By the experiment of weakening or lowering the shoe heels, in order to bring a deficient frog into contact with the ground, however gradually I proceeded, I have lamed several horses. St. Bel also did the same, on the first establishment of the Veterinary College. It is sufficiently obvious that, by such means, the back sinews, as they are commonly styled, must be exposed to unusual extension. Such a plan is perhaps scarcely ever eligible, excepting indeed when necessary to reduce the feet to their proper level, in the fortunate case of a natural luxuriance of growth in the frog, which it is the epidemic madness of farriers and smiths to cut away, in order to the miserable and useless substitute of a thick-heeled shoe. The friction of our

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