NEWS AND ITEMS. 
873 
classes for which payment of fees has been claimed.” We feel 
sure that there are many young men desirous of entering the 
profession, but debarred by the unfortunate lack of money from 
doing so, and to such young men we wish our readers to point 
out this great opportunity and privilege.— Vet..Journ. England. 
Work of Horses’ Hoofs. —A Boston automobile enthusiast 
with a penchant for figures has calculated that a sharp-shod 
horse pulverizes 24 pounds of road material on a macadamized 
highway for each mile traveled. He arrived at this result by 
carefully collecting, with the aid of an envelope and a fine 
brush, all the material loosened by two of the equine’s hoof- 
beats. This performance he repeated in widely separated sec¬ 
tions of the cultured city and collected the material disengaged 
from the road surface by six hoof-beats, and which is usually 
blown away in the form of dust. On weighing his material he 
found that he had .0366 pounds, or .0061 pounds per hoof-beat. 
Multiplying this by 1000 steps per mile for each foot—4000 
steps in all—he found that it totalled 24 pounds. A rubber- 
tired automobile, he says, makes practically no impression on 
the roadway, from which he concludes that horses and steel- 
tired vehicles are the sworn enemies of the automobile so far as 
good roads are concerned. Some kind of a law to prevent the 
rapid deterioration of roads under steel hoofs and narrow steel 
tires should, he thinks, be enacted at once—the sooner the better. 
A Valuable Dog. — Recently the eight-year old son of 
Wm. G. Morrisey was playing on the pier at the foot of 21st 
Street, Bensonhurst (New York City), accompanied by his 
dog, a large St. Bernard, two years old. “ Old Sport ” playfully 
jumped against the boy’s breast, causing him to step backward, 
and in so doing he lost his balance and fell into the water be¬ 
low, which was covered by a thin coating of ice. The lad was 
a good swimmer but was heavily clothed, and the dog, seeming 
to understand the situation, plunged in, seized Willie by the 
collar and swam with him to shore, a distance of 150 feet. 
They both started on a run for home, the dog arriving there 
first. Mrs. Morrisey heard something scratching at the door, 
and on opening it she saw the hero rushing back to meet the 
frightened boy. Last winter he saved the boy’s sister in a sim¬ 
ilar manner. The facts as above given were verified by Dr. 
Bell, of the Review, in a personal letter from Mr. Morrisey. 
We read of many similar cases, but we always suspect exagge¬ 
ration, and when they can be verified they should be placed on 
record, as a just tribute to “man’s best friend.” 
