SOCIETY MEETINGS. 
505 
the foot ; teaching" them pathological shoeing, and generally 
making them proficient in the treatment of diseases of the loco- 
motory apparatus. Dr. McAnulty, of Philadelphia, reported 
the progress made in the Philadelphia schools and the methods 
in operation there, and endorsing the work. Dr. McKenzie 
followed in the same strain, asking the assistance of the associa¬ 
tion in behalf of the blacksmiths. Dr. Hawkins, of Detroit, 
narrated incidents where the instruction of the blacksmith in 
locomotory pathology transformed him into a dangerous “ quack,” 
and he expressed an emphatic disapproval of the proposition. 
Prof. Leonard Pearson, of Philadelphia, in a very neat little 
talk, told of the experiences upon this line in foreign countries, 
and doubted the policy of the association in endorsing the prop¬ 
osition beyond the point of normal conditions. Dr. James 
McDonough, of Montclair, N. J., a practical blacksmith and a 
veterinarian, thought the association would be nursing a viper 
by making half-educated foot experts, claimed that these attain¬ 
ments were being achieved at the expense of the practical work 
at the forge, and caused considerable amusement by his quaint 
way of driving nails in his argument. Dr. James Robinson 
replied in a rather heated manner to Aire strictures of Dr. Mc¬ 
Donough, and said there never was a great movement for the 
betterment of mankind that did not meet with just such oppo¬ 
sition as this proposition was encountering ; but that it would 
go on and on, for the horse-shoers association was in earnest in 
its quest of knowledge. Dr. Dixon, of Hoboken, N. J., thought 
the avocation of the blacksmith was a “handicraft,” and notan 
“art,” nor a “science”; that the members of this association 
were incapable of instructing them in their “ handicraft,” the 
manual manipulation of their tools, the forging of a shoe, and 
therefore the association should be silent upon the subject. 
Altogether, there was a great variety of opinions expressed, the 
discussion was very animated, and the question was finally sub¬ 
mitted to the Committee on Resolutions, which presented the 
following conservative expressions, and was adopted by the as¬ 
sociation : 
Resolved , That this association approves the action of the Master Horse-Shoers’ As¬ 
sociation in reference to the instruction of its members and their subordinates on such sub¬ 
jects as tend to perfect the art of horse-shoeing and thus avoid the great and frequent 
losses that result from the imperfect shoeing of the horse’s hoof, and this association 
pledges its support to all properly-directed measures designed to accomplish this object, 
and it is the sentiment of this association that horse-shoers should be instructed in such 
subjects as pertain to the normal form and function of the foot, and the mechanical pro¬ 
cesses necessary to preserve such conditions. 
The report of the Committee on Intelligence and Education, 
