HORSE-SHOES FIXED ON WITHOUT NAILS. 
287 
and easy working of the drill silences the ring of the nail in the 
hoof \ upon which the experienced farrier of the present day reposes 
his trust to avoid piercing the region of sensation; if the eye should 
be discovered to be a better organ than the ear to guide us in a 
doubtful operation upon animal life; if it be seen that the shoe may 
be removed to-day and replaced to-morrow, still leaving the hoof 
in the same state of integrity that it possessed yesterday; finally, 
if, combined with the foregoing advantages, it be found that this 
invention possesses the three essential characteristics of simiplicity 
of design, facility of execution, and efficiency of purpose, then shall 
my new system of horse-shoeing live and prevail until another 
and a better method is discovered to supersede both that and the 
one which, perhaps, may now be closing its long career. 
We have still to lament that the mists of prejudice and self- 
interest should, even in the days of enlightenment granted to the 
present generation of men, spread themselves over every novelty 
intended for the general good. These two great enemies to im¬ 
provement are ever in the field against reason and science; thus, 
mankind are frequently denied the benefits of some great and gene¬ 
ral blessing, or they are compelled to submit to some sad and pes¬ 
tilent evil long after the ordinary course of events would have given 
them the one or have removed the other. 
However valuable his lucubrations, whatever benefits they may 
be calculated to confer on society, the bold and daring innovator 
on long established usage is certain to meet with hosts of oppo¬ 
nents among the prejudiced and self-interested. 
Can, then, the novelty I am now introducing to the world hope 
to escape the inevitable penalty that innovation calls down upon 
itself? Assuredly not. I arm myself with patience for the battle, 
and make my account in seeing one-half of the professional and 
two-thirds of the operative men connected with this branch of the 
veterinary art in array against me : still shall I not be without 
support even in their own camp; and public opinion has already 
commenced forming its phalanxes in favour of the novelty. The 
numerous communications I am daily receiving from all parts of 
the island, expressive of hope that a remedy has at length been 
found for the lamentable evil, prove that the community at large 
are quite ripe for the change. The world is anxious to discard the 
ancient system of horse-shoeing; a system greatly improved by the 
scientific knowledge and carefulness of modern farriery, but, never¬ 
theless, based upon the primitive ignorance of those races of the 
human family whose history has long been blotted from the re¬ 
cords of time. Science and talents of no secondary order have fre¬ 
quently been at work to improve upon horse-shoeing, by attaching 
the shoe to the foot without the use of nails: and they have given 
