438 



EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



which the muscular integuments, the nerves, the blood-vesseis. 

 and, indeed, all the parts, are separated and preserved, and ex 

 hibited, by the extraordinary skill of an eminent veterinary 

 surgeon and artist now deceased, who occupied the anatomical 

 chair of the institution, exhibit wonderful ingenuity in their dis 

 section and preservation, and present an interesting and useful 

 study, not to the medical students only, but to the most ordinary 

 as well as the most profound philosophical observer. I have 

 seen no exhibition of the kind of so remarkable a character. 



The numerous examples of diseased affections, preserved, as 

 far as possible, in their natural state, strongly attract observation, 

 and make a powerful appeal to our humanity in showing how 

 much these poor animals, who minister so essentially to our 

 service and pleasures, must suffer without being able to acquaint 

 us with their sufferings ; and how often they are probably com 

 pelled to do duty, and driven to the hardest services by the whip 

 or the spur, in circumstances in which a human being would not 

 be able to stand up. A great number of calculi, or stones, taken 

 from the bladders of horses after death, are exhibited, of a large 

 size, and, in some instances, of a very rough exterior, which 

 must have excessively irritated and pained the sensitive parts 

 with which they came in contact. One of these stones was 

 larger than the head of an ordinary man, and weighed, as I was 

 informed by the attendant, thirty-eight pounds. I am aware 

 how severely this account may tax the belief of my readers, but 

 I assure them there is no exaggeration, though I should have 

 found great difficulty in believing the fact, had I not seen the 

 stone. It is scarcely possible to overrate the suffering which 

 the poor animal must have endured under such an infliction.* 



The department for sick dogs, containing boxes for those which 

 require confinement, and chains for such as require to be kept in 

 the open air, and a cooking apparatus and kitchen for the prepara 

 tion of their food, was spacious, well arranged, and contained 



* Facts of this nature strongly demonstrate the importance of pure water for 

 our brute animals as well as for ourselves. Such diseases are most likely to 

 occur in a country where the waters are strongly impregnated with lime. In 

 Paris, where, of all places which 1 have seen, they appear least demanded by any 

 excess of modesty, or even sense of common decency, it is said, that since the 

 erection of public urinals along some of the principal streets, the diseases of 

 gravel or stone in the human subject have greatly diminished. 



