302 



THE MODERN SYSTEM 



have given all that would be necessary, with- 

 out engaging the conservators of the health 

 and enjoyment of the Horse in the function of 

 demons ; and giving them an indifference to 

 buffering and a callousness of feeling, which 

 taints the whole course of their after prac- 

 tice ? 



" That school wants reform which by the 

 dearth of operations that are committed to the 

 pupils tempts to the commission of atrocities 

 like these. Every pupil, after having been 

 compelled to operate once, or twice, or thrice 

 on the dead subject before the Professor, 

 should, in his turn, be called on to operate on 

 the different cases which are brought to the 

 College. Under the immediate inspection of 

 the Professor there could be no danger to the 

 patient ; and one operation, every step of 

 which was guided and directed by tlie Pro- 

 fessor, would be more useful to the student 

 than a hundred at the knacker's yard ; but 

 according to the present system, nearly all the 

 operations are performed by the Assistant- 

 Professor and the Demonstrator ; and the 

 pupils are permitted only to look on. Some 

 alteration is here imperiously required." 



The above article contains such humane 

 and correct advice to the veterinary student, 

 as well as to the profession generally, that we 

 think we are doing a duty to humanity in lay- 

 ing it before our readers. There is contained 

 in it the practice of students towards the 

 kiiacker-horse, the cruelty of which it is im- 

 possible to reprobate too much. We must 

 repeat it ; it shall stand by itself, without a 

 sentence before or after it. 



" A knot of pupils go to the knackers ; they 

 bargain for some condemned animal ; they 

 cut him up, and torture him alive ! They 

 perform the nerve operation on each leg and 



on each side ; they fire him on the coronet, 

 the fetlock, the hock, and on the round-bone ; 

 they insert setons in every direction ; they 

 nick him, they dock him, they trephine him ; 

 when one is tired of cruelty, another succeeds ; 

 and at length, perhaps they terminate his suf- 

 ferings by some new mode of destroying 

 Hfe!!!" 



Good God ! It is useless to comment on 

 this barbarity. There it stands in all its native 

 enormity. This is the gratitude shewn to a 

 noble and generous animal, who has been 

 worn out in the service of man; perishing, 

 perhaps, by inches ; and at length tortured by 

 painful experiments, to see how far cruelty 

 could go, before life became extinct ! 



Tliis is a Christian country, and how often 

 do we arrogate to ourselves that humanity is 

 its consequence ; and with what disdain and 

 contempt do we speak of other nations not 

 under the same ban. Let us look, however, 

 with respect upon those nations, yvlien al- 

 though not acknowledging the same creed, 

 teach us how to behave to animals, and to feel 

 that faith alone is not sufficient either to make 

 or prevent good works. 



As a pleasing contrast to the behaviour of 

 our own countrymen, we copy with great 

 pleasure the following account of the manner 

 in which the Turks treat their animals. It 

 ought to make us blush. 



TURKISH HUMANITY TO ANIMALS. 



Much is said of the humanity which Mus- 

 sulmen display towards animals. A singular 

 proof of it occurred during this siege (of 

 Athens). Finding them suffering from thirst, 

 the besieged lowered a number of asses, &c. 

 into the hands of the enemy, choosing rather 

 that they should live in the possession of the 



