354 
PRESIDENT BERGh’s ADDRESS. 
dangerous instrument alluded to, or the equally unnatural practice 
of burning the shoe into the horn. 
If farriers will not listen to the dictates of reason, nor heed, 
gentlemen, your scientific remonstrances, then owners of horses 
should withdraw their patronage from establishments whose prac¬ 
tices are in such direct violation of the plainest precepts of anat¬ 
omy. 
I should trespass too greatly on your time and patience, were 
I to enumerate even a fourth part of the perverse blunders and 
ignorancies of these self-sufficient tyros in their treatment of 
that creature, which may be justly regarded as the greatest acqui¬ 
sition man has ever made to civilization. I will, however, ask 
your further indulgence while I refer to one or two other objects 
affecting the health and comfort of the horse, the use of which 
may be solely attributable to the vanity and ostentation of its 
owner. 
I allude to the check-rein and the terrible bits now in use. 
The former invention, if originally designed as an instrument 
of punishment, or to prevent the animal from freely performing 
his work, by allowing him the use of his head, should be regarded 
as a perfect success. 
The original implement was bad enough, but a modern inquis¬ 
itor, named Jackson, has produced another which cannot fail to 
rejoice the hearts of all persons who take pleasure in torturing 
their animals while making their rounds of the Park. It is more 
immovable than its predecessor, and possesses—to all such—the 
additional attraction of pressing upon the brain and skull of the 
animal, while it holds its mouth wide open, and prevents the 
natural operations of the saliva. 
I am unable to say whether its inventor has applied to Wash¬ 
ington or Sing Sing for a patent, but he is certainly worthy of the 
highest honors the latter establishment can bestow. This, along 
with the double bits forced into the mouth of the horse, occasion 
to that generous and uncomplaining animal, an amount of suffer¬ 
ing, which, in ancient times, would have been regarded as a first- 
class punishment for the vilest of animals,. 
One word more, gentlemen, and I have done. 
