24 



the animals. It is like cutting through the quick of your finger. There would 

 be at the time extreme pain, and for many days after, a fortnight, and probably 

 longer in some cases." Prof. McCall, Principal of the Glasgow Veterinary College, 

 Prof. Pritchard, President of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, London, 

 Prof. Cox, a former president of the college, and a number ot others, stated that 

 they had heard and agreed with the views expressed by Prof. Walley. 



Such testimony was strongly emphasised by witnesses before the Com- 

 mission, who, without professing any expert knowledge of the question, were 

 fully convinced that the practice was a cruel and barbarous one. 



Broken Horn. 



A large number of witnesses judged from having seen a broken horn that 

 the suffering in dehorning would be proportionate, but other witnesses who had 

 seen both the operation and the horn broken accidentalh', claimed that several 

 horns could be removed with the saw with less pain than that caused by one 

 broken horn. The force necessary to break a horn must give a severe wrench to 

 the head, resulting in some instances in the fracture of the skull, while at the same 

 time a large surface of nerve tissue is exposed to the air, and the lacerated 

 condition of the wound produces great irritation. 



Blow upon the Horn. 



The fact that a blow upon the horn causes great pain to the animal was also 



used as an argument against dehorning. In this case, however, the pain is caused 



more by the shock given to the head through the leverage of the horn. H. H. 



Haaf, of Chicago, writing on this subject, says : — 



'' If the animal sustains a charge or blow on the head or horns, or makes a charge with one 

 horn, the second story, the cross bone and the partitions or walls between the frontal sinuses 

 and the parietal bone make the head an almost perfect catapult or battering ram. Nothing in 

 the shape of flesh and blood can withstand the onset, but it is a horse of another color when 

 flesh and blood in the shape of a smart active boy hurls a stone or chunk of wood and sti'ikes 

 the horn. In this case the springing of the parts at the suture produces intense agony, not so 

 much by knocking off the shell or bone horn as by communication to the brain caused by the 

 unequal blow on the one side and the suddenness of the shock." 



The Humane Aspect. 



While many of the Humane Societies have expressed strong opposition to the 

 practice as being cruel and unnecessary, it is a remarkable fact that all who favor 

 it claim that it is a humane operation and in the bsst interests of the animals 

 themselves. The following are only a few of the statements made as to the 

 humanity of the practice, and coming as they do from men occupying important 

 public positions they are entitled to careful consideration : 



James W. Robertson, Dominion Dairy Commissioner: " In taking off the horns a great 

 deal of suffering, otherwise spread over a period of years, is reduced to a sensation of pain for a 



