ARMY FARRIERS AND SHOEING SMITHS. 833 
As promotion is simply the result of recommendation, with 
or without the approval of the veterinary surgeon, so it 
follows that fitness for promotion is only a matter of opinion. 
Each has his own standard and acts upon it; thus there are 
many standards and a corresponding number of opinions, 
with their respective differences. If veterinary surgeons 
think seriously of what the standard for the farrier and shoe- 
ing smith to attain to should be, the conclusion arrived at 
ought not to display any significant discrepancy. 
But mark ! Four or five veterinary surgeons were re- 
quested each to write his impressions as to what constituted 
these three grades ; they did so independently ; to what 
extent they varied we do not remember, however, the discus- 
sion which ensued proved the whole question to be remark- 
ably unsatisfactory and undefinable, though there was no 
lack of experience and service bearing on the matter. And 
at the present time we are, as we were then, unable to deter- 
mine what constitutes the farrier and the shoeing smith. We 
may appear to have represented our subject in its most objec- 
tionable form; nevertheless, our short experience has fur- 
nished the foregoing remarks, which apply more especially to 
the Royal Regiment of Artillery, where changes are con- 
stantly occurring in the distribution of the men who make 
up the shoeing establishment, to transfer from battery to 
battery, and sometimes from one brigade to another. Such 
being the case, it will be seen how very essential it is to lay 
down some regular standard of knowledge to be reached by 
each grade, in all branches of its duty, preparatory to pro- 
motion, and, as we have several times hinted, to provide 
some means whereby such a standard could be arrived at 
and maintained. If this is not accomplished we must ever 
deal and be hampered with untrained and unteachable 
hands. 
The cavalry veterinary surgeon does not experience so 
many changes in his regiment ; therefore he is better able to 
frame the working of his department to his own mind, simply 
because his men are more constant in their positions, and 
less liable to transfer, and not because they are smarter and 
more intelligent than the rest — not at all. 
The artillery veterinary surgeon may have charge of ten 
or twelve batteries of two, three, or four brigades, in the 
course of three years, or less (in ordinary times, we mean), 
and has, therefore, to deal with much variety which is 
neither satisfactory nor charming. He sees the working of 
the system in all its phases, and soon discovers its disadvan- 
tages. If the annual relief troops does not remove him it 
