THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HORSE. 1 1 



pleased to grant a charter to the veterinary body at large, 

 who were in it recognized as forming a Royal College of 

 Veterinary Surgeons, in contradistinction to the Royal Vete- 

 rinary College or School which already existed in Camden 

 Town. The veterinary profession were, by this charter, 

 empowered to examine, and grant diplomas to, the future 

 members of their own body ; but this newly created autho- 

 rity deprived the established schools of privileges which 

 they had hitherto enjoyed ; and, therefore, on the enact- 

 ment being made known, the schools became the most 

 violent opponents to the chartered body. Mutual conces- 

 sions have, however, seemingly put an end to the inimical 

 feelings of the professors, and we now may hope for some of 

 those advantages from the charter which were originally 

 contemplated by the Messrs. Mayor, to whose exertions the 

 profession chiefly owe the obtainment of the grant. 



We cannot conclude this sketch of the state of the vete- 

 rinary art among us, without adverting to the advantages 

 likely to accrue to it from the establishment of a Veterinary 

 School in Edinburgh, having at its head an able and zealous 

 teacher in the person of Mr. Dick. We heartily wish him 

 all the success which his apparently judicious method of 

 pursuing his course of instruction merits. 



SECTION IV. 



THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HORSE. 



The early history of the animal is so mingled with that 

 of man that we in vain endeavour to separate the two. 

 Whether the horse ever existed in a perfectly wild state 

 there is no fact to prove, though incontestable authority 

 establishes that the animal once was in far less jDcrfect sub- 

 jugation to its master than at present. 



It has been assumed that the horse was reduced to a state 

 of domestication at a period comparatively late in the history 

 of the world. The proof of this is rashly conjectured to be 

 contained within the Holy Scriptures. No horse is men- 

 tioned as associated with the patriarchs, and therefore it is 

 held that none then lived under the dominion of man. 

 This is by no means a sequitor. The patriarchs were 



