ARMY FARRIERS AND SHOEING SMITHS. 921 
November 17th. — We visited the animal again. We now 
found her in a comatose state, with almost entire loss of 
sensibility. The respiration was more oppressed, and the 
animal was prostrate. An alterative was administered, and 
two setons inserted in the poll. The animal, however, died 
on the following day. 
Autopsy. — On opening the head we were at once con- 
vinced that a blow upon the cranium caused the attack, and 
that congestion of the brain, more especially of the cere- 
bellum, was the immediate cause of death. 
ARMY FARRIERS AND SHOEING SMITHS. 
By “ Hippogriff,” R.H.A., India. 
In our former article on this subject, published in last 
month’s issue of The Veterinarian , we referred to one or two 
suggestions that had been submitted to Army Headquarters 
for the favorable consideration of the Right Honorable the 
Commander-in-Chief in India. 
Though we had persuaded ourselves that the mild pro- 
positions would meet with the approval of the Principal 
Veterinary Surgeon in India, we were not surprised to find 
that he did not concur in our advice. The statement of the 
result of his long experience (as given below) shows that we 
have not erred in pointing out the defects of the system in 
question, and more than substantiates the remarks we have 
ventured to communicate. His assertions are of a broader and 
more conclusive character than those we have ventured to 
make. We, therefore, consider it very important to adduce his 
observations — though they do not accord with our suggestions 
— as corroborative evidence of the views we have declared : 
“ The result,” says the Principal Veterinary Surgeon, “ of 
my experience of the farriers of the army is, that they are 
generally men entirely without any education, save of a 
mechanical description, and are, in consequence, incapable of 
understanding and appreciating even the most rudimentary 
instruction in the veterinary profession ; the simplest language 
in which such instruction could be conveyed would be a 
mystery to the majority. 
“ I believe I am within the truth when I assert that not 
one half of the shoeing smiths of the British army can read 
their own language distinctly or write it legibly, and without 
a good primary education it is impossible to convey sound 
