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THE MODERN SYSTEM 



with objections. We know also that the box 

 has become the profession latterly of members 

 of some distinguished families, which we hope 

 may tend to redeem the profession from the 

 low grade in which it has been generally con- 

 sidered, and by these means improve the 

 treatment of the Horse. 



We know and feel perfectly convinced, 

 however, that humanity must pervade in the 

 public mind more generally than at present, 

 before the Horse will be emancipated from 

 those unnecessary cruelties which at present 

 reflect so much dishonour on our national 

 character. 



At the students' dinner of the Veterinary 

 College, which Sir W. Blizzard presided at 

 some years ago, he gave a sentiment which 

 should never be erased from the memory of 

 those who heard it, and should be perpetuated 

 to future generations ; because it is founded 

 on the principles of justice and enlightened 

 philosophy. " Remember, gentlemen (said 

 lie) that your reputation and success must be 

 founded on the union of science and hu- 

 manity !" 



We shall give also the opinions of an able 

 writer, whose knowledge and abilities seem to 

 us particularly to qualify him for the task he 

 has undertaken (and whose sentiments so 

 strictly coincide with our own) the protection 

 of the Horse, from the cruel and barbarous 

 treatment he receives from the hands of the 

 medical students of the Royal College of 

 Veterinary Surgeons. It is deserving of the 

 most serious consideration. 



" The object of our profession is to mitigate 

 or remove the pains and diseases of those who 

 have, although our slaves, common feeling 

 with us. Can we honestly, heartily, success- 

 fully, employ ourselves in this, if we do not 



sympathize with them ; if we do not love to 

 see them happy, and contemplate their suffer- 

 ings with regret ? Can the brute who regards 

 them as mere machines, devoid of rights, 

 placed without the pale of justice, created 

 merely for our purposes, and to be sacrificed 

 without crime to our caprices ; can he, by 

 possibility, so identify himself with his pro- 

 fession as to neglect no opportunity to mitigate 

 pain, and to spare no exertion to increase 

 enjoyment ? This is the duty, and ought to be 

 the pride and the pleasure of every veterinary 

 surgeon. Regard to reputation, and sense of 

 duty to our employer, are powerful principles 

 of action ; but there is another as powerful, 

 which the scenes we daily witness, and the 

 means by which we live, should form and 

 establish — sympathy with the feelings of our 

 patients. What! with the feelings of brutes? 

 Yes ! brutes as we call them, but who possess, 

 in common with us, attention, and memory, 

 and imagination, and reason, and ideas of 

 reflection, and feelings of gratitude, and truth, 

 and duty ; in fact, all vvhost; intellectual and 

 moral powers differ from ours not in kind, but 

 merely in degree. 



"Dare we trace the education of the vete- 

 rinary surgeon so far as humanity is concerned ? 

 See him at the College attending a necessary 

 but severe operation, jostling and wrestling 

 with his fellows for the best view ; execrating 

 the struggles of the agonized animal, and 

 mocking its groans ; not one expression of 

 commiseration heard from a considerable pro- 

 portion of the spectators ; not one calculation 

 how far a part, at least, of the torture may be 

 saved, consistently with the object of the 

 operation ; the loud laugh and the ribald 

 joke drowning the voice of the operator ; or 

 the operator himself, when not too mnch 



