No. 7. 



Veterinary Institute. 



227 



ci'iol, and disgraceful experiments on vari- 

 ous animals. When I know that twelve 

 drachms of corrosive sublimate maybe ijiven 

 to a sheep, and eighteen drachms to the ox, 

 V, ithout tlie sliohtest effect, and yet a few 

 grains sprinkled on a wound, will destroy 

 eitlier of them — tliat tluee draclims of 

 opium in infusion, and which being thus 

 given, would enter into the true stomach — 

 will produce no narcotic effect, no effect 

 ^\hatever on the sheep; that senna will de- 

 stroy the sheep by inflammation, but will 

 not purge; that two ounces of aloes will 

 destroy the same animal, and witlioiit purg- 

 ing — that a fourth of a grain of emetic 

 tartar will vomit, while a drachm of aloes 

 will scarcely purge the smallest dog, and 

 that scarcely any quantity of opium will de 

 stroy him — I can have no faith in the effect 

 of poisons, or of any medicaments on these 

 animals as referable to human practice; and 

 I should reprobate a long list of recorded ex- 

 periments as inconclusive, indefensible, and 

 barbarous. To the man of liberal education 

 and especially to the proprietor of horses and 

 cattle, these lectures, however imperfectly 

 delivered, will be pregnant with useful in- 

 struction. They will lay the foundation of 

 that which his experience must perfect — a 

 competent knowledge of the exterior of the 

 horse and of cattle — those points, those con- 

 formations of different parts, on which the 

 beauty and the utility of the animal mate- 

 rially depend. Although practice alone, and 

 the long-formed habit of being with them 

 and studying them, and of trying them, can 

 form the good judge of the horse, or of cat- 

 tle, yet there are rules and proportions which 

 are easily understood. From ignorance of 

 first principles on these subjects, how many 

 have suffered in their comfort, their pocket, 

 and their pride. 



Lectures like these must-be interesting, 

 as enabling the owner of horses and cattle 

 to overlook his own stable and farm, and to 



I 



rid himself of the tyranny of his groom, 

 have heard gentlemen of influence and 

 talent, confess that they dare not do what 

 they pleased in their own stables: they have 

 blushed at the dishonourable and abject 

 slavery to which they were reduced, and 

 are determined to throw off the yoke. Ty- 

 ranny here, as everywhere else, was founded 

 on ignorance ; the master knew not the pro- 

 per management of the stable, or the quali- 

 ties of his horse; he was fearful of commit- 

 ting himself, and shrunk from the sneer of 

 his servant. 



On this ignorance of the master, and from 

 the still greater ignorance of the groom, has 

 been founded a system, absurd, cruel, and 



destructive to the animal, and unnecessarily 

 expensive to the owner: and after all, there 

 is nothing like the superintendence of the 

 master, while that to be eflective and profit- 

 able, must be founded on a knowledge of the 

 matter. 



In all nations but this, they have Veteri- 

 nary schools, under the patronage of their 

 respective governments, where young men 

 of liberal education study the profes.sion sci- 

 entifically, and in order to induce such men 

 to embrace it as a profession, such Veteri- 

 nary surgeons as are attached to regiments 

 or brigades of horse artillery, recei\e com- 

 missions, consisting of a Veterinary surgeon- 

 general, surgeons, and assistant-surgeons, 

 which forms one of the most useful arms of 

 the medical department. (Jf what use would 

 their cavalry be, unless they were perfectly 

 sound and fit for service! 



In Great Britain their live catlle, inde- 

 pendent of three millions of horses, are 

 valued at £2()0,C0n,0C0, and before the es- 

 tablishment of the Veterinary college, there 

 were more than thirteen millions of money 

 annually lost to the country through the 

 diseases of domestic animals, a large portion 

 of which is now preserved. According to 

 the United States statistical returns, there 

 are 4,943,988 horses, 18,578,897 cattle, 24, 

 342,238 sheep, 2h,947,017 hogs, and poultry 

 to the value of -f 10,801,347, making a total 

 value at reduced prices, of $856,700,757; 

 and it is not saying too much in stating, that 

 810,000,000 of this amount of agricultural 

 property are lost to this country annually, 

 for the want of proper means to instruct 

 proper persons in the Veterinary profession. 

 There is no provision against this evil ; the 

 legislature has never interfered to lessen 

 this waste of national wealth. The landed 

 proprietors, the chief owners of this valu- 

 able portion of our country's wealth, have 

 not founded any seminary for the education 

 of Veterinary students. A principle of 

 more than Turkish fatalism seems to have 

 oppressed and paralyzed the agriculturist. 

 He is accustomed to these losses — he makes 

 up his mind that he must bear them, and he 

 takes no step to guard against them. 



Agricultural Societies now and then offer 

 premiums for the best Essays on the treat- 

 ment of certain diseases: otherwise tliey 

 are employed usefully, and profitably, cer- 

 tainly, in discussing the best way of improv- 

 ing the breed of horses and cattle, or of im- 

 proving their lands; but the diseases of do- 

 mestic animals, are subjects which they do 

 not under^tand, and they leave the medical 

 treatment to a set of men proverbial for 

 their want of even a common education or 



