ON CHLOROFORMING HORSES. 221 



of three parts of vapour to ninety-seven parts of atmos- 

 pheric air, causes a patient, at no risk whatever of his life, 

 and at a cost amounting to less than two-pence, to be 

 bereft, not necessarily of his senses, but merely of sensa- 

 tion, while the knife, without the infliction of the slightest 

 pain, is performing on his living body the most appalling 

 operations. 



" And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and 

 he slept : and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh 

 instead thereof." 



Now, if in return for this extraordinary alleviation, 

 or rather annihilation of all sufferings under surgical 

 treatment, man should deem it his duty to render public 

 thanks to that Omnipotent Power from which it has 

 proceeded, is it possible for him practically to perform 

 any more acceptable act of acknowledgment than to allow 

 the dumb creatures in his service to participate in a 

 blessing which, by Divine authority, has been imparted to 

 the possessors, not exclusively of human reason, but with- 

 out favour or exception, of animal life ? 



As regards his horses, the performance of this duty is 

 especially incumbent : for not only, like all other animals, 

 are they liable to the accidents and ills that flesh is heir 

 to, but some of the crudest operations to which they are 

 subjected — such, for instance, as cutting off and cauteris- 



