THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



159 



have often seen bad boils— a furunculoid eruption — on 

 the hands and arms of those attending these animals, 

 which has led to considerable indisposition, and 

 been difficult to cure." The herdsman is still the 

 Professor's care, and never perhaps has the asso- 

 ciation between agriculture and veterinary science 

 been so forcibly shown as in these imjjortant " cases." 

 Let us go on to another : " Again, 1 may mention the 

 vesicular murrain so prevalent in cows, attended with 

 the development of a virus, which is often squeezed 

 into the milk-can as the cow is milked. Such milk, 

 drunk warm, will kill calves and pigs, and induce 

 fever and cutaneous eruptions in men. Why shall it 

 not bo attended with dangerous and fetal consequences 

 when partaken of by the infantile portion of the popu- 

 lation, which consumes so large a quantity of the 

 dairy produce ?" The whole people, however, is as 

 directly concerned, and rarely has the criminality of 

 offering diseased meat for sale as human food been so 

 strongly impressed. Let us take one more warning- 

 fact of how the veterinary surgeon's inspection may 

 save the attendance of our own good doctor ; " Of late 

 years considerable interest has been excited by the 

 metamorphoses of parasites. In a piece of pork a few 

 yellow specks or transparent vesicles, which do not 

 appear of the slightest importance, may in reality be 

 tapeworms in one stage of development, for the de- 

 struction of which we have to hope for prolonged boil- 

 ing or efficient roasting. If the meat be eaten under- 

 done, a parasite at once developes in the human 

 intestine, which it sometimes baffles human skill to 

 displace." The general deduction is net favourable to 

 the recognized position that Veterinary Science has 

 even now in this country. There are few such fa- 

 cilities for observation or public appointments offered 

 the veterinarian as those the duly qualified medical 

 man has so long enjoyed. " Veterinarians are de- 

 barred from these privileges. They cannot be debarred 

 for long, as their services are urgently required. In 

 France, Germany, and elsewhere, civil appointments 

 exist for veterinarians ; and by a satisfactory system 

 of inspection, epizootic and contagious diseases cannot 

 exist long without due attention being paid to them, 

 and measures, often adequate to check the disease, 

 being adopted. There veterinary surgeons hold also 

 positions as inspectors of slaughter-houses; and I can 

 state, from personal experience of the class of men ap- 

 pointed to these offices, that they become vei'y acute 

 observers of diseased conditions, and frequently prevent 

 the sale of food unfit for consumption by man." 

 Noonewill question but that theArtofVeterinary Me- 



dicine is progresshig while it has so able an advocate as 

 we find at the head of a school in Edinburgh to main- 

 tain its cause. The point just at present is rather with 

 ourselves. Do we give the veterinary surgeon such 

 support as he should have ? Does the Government do 

 anything to encourage him, or to ratify his proper posi- 

 tion before the world ? Or, above all, do we really consult 

 or employ him sufficiently for the absolute good of the 

 public ? By Mr. Gamgeo's showing, it would certainly 

 seem not. In Edinburgh such market inspectors as 

 are appointed are generally " fleshers'' or butchers — 

 persons "rather disqualified than rendered fit lor the 

 office, being accustomed to certain practices peculiar to 

 such trade, which almost precludes their having a 

 strict and unprejudiced notion of what is really lawful 

 and justifiable, and what is not."- Beyond even this, 

 we may go on to cite their actual ignorance of the first 

 symptoms of dangerous disease ; so that the office be- 

 comes practically but little more than useless ; while the 

 able veterinarian has to fight his way without a helping 

 hand, when he could give so much in return. The citizens 

 of Edinburgh may certainly be gratified by the know- 

 ledge that "most of the bad carcases are trucked to 

 London;" but what shall we say for London itself? 

 " As a student of the Veterinary College I wandered 

 about the London dairies, and saw the disgusting prac- 

 tices incidental to the sale and consumption of diseased 

 cows : how the most filthy products of disease were 

 hashed up with other meat, equally unsightly and un- 

 palatable, to make sausages ; how a lot of the carcases 

 of cows were polished and dressed up with the fat of 

 two or three young fat bullocks killed with them ; and 

 how the flesh of diseased animals not only found its 

 way to the poor man's home, but to the table of the 

 middle and upper classes." 



Surely, this state of things cannot be suffered to con- 

 tinue much longer ? Are we to ignore the aid that 

 stands so ready to our call, and still look on the 

 veterinarian merely by what he can do for lame horses 

 or hove oxen. There was a time when the horse alone 

 was thought to be his care, and the cattle doctor was 

 the village farrier who killed or cured cows and pigs as 

 chance would have it. This step, however, has been 

 achieved, and there are others which must follow. It 

 has been rarely indeed that we have read a more sug- 

 gestive address than that recently delivered at the New 

 Edinburgh Veterinary College. It claims a status for 

 the veterinary surgeon on the highest possible grounds 

 — the common good ; and it must be our common care 

 to see, in the words of the poet, that the professor 

 " Has had his claim allowed." 



THE MANURE TRADE OF THE PAST YEAR, 



From the annual circulars of the principal manura 

 dealers and manufacturers, and the incidental notices 

 as to supplies and freights furnished in the shipping 

 circulars, coupled with the special rejiorts published 

 from time to time in our columns, we are enabled to take 

 a retrospect of the trade in fertilizers for the past year, 

 as well as of the progress and prospects. The grow- 

 ing importance of this trade to an agricultural coun- 

 try like England must be evident to'the most superficial 

 observer, and the money value of the products, and 

 the large employment it gives to tonnage, manufactures, 

 and labour, invest it with a degree of interest which 

 every year becomes greatei'. The food of the soil is 

 subordinate only to the food of the live stock and the 

 people, which is obtained therefrom. 



Commencing with the most important of the fer- 

 tilizers, guano, we may premise that, since 1842, the 

 firm of Messrs. Anthony Gibbs and Sons have held 



from the Peruvian Goternment the contracts for Europe, 

 and for several years also for France and her colonial 

 possessions, Bourbon, Martinique, and Guadaioupe. 

 The present contracts with Messrs. Gibbs expire at 

 the end of this year, after which the business will be 

 conducted by the following houses : For Great Britain 

 and her Colonies, Messrs. Zaracondegui and Co. ; for 

 France, Messrs. Thomas, Le Chambre, and Co. ; for 

 Belgium, Messrs. Sescau and Co.; for Germany, 

 Messrs. Witt and Schutte ; for Holland, Messrs. Cane- 

 varo, Pardo, and Barron ; for Italy, Mr. Lazaro Patroni. 

 Guano freights ruled between 50s. and 65s. last year 

 against 45s. to 60s. in 1859. By the centralizing 

 which has existed, tonnage has been obtained upon the • 

 most favourable terms, all competition being destroyed, 

 but by the new arrangements which divide the business 

 between six different firms, the shipping interest is 

 likely to profit considerably at the expense of the Pe- 



