356 CURABILITY AND TREATMENT OF ANIMAL INSANITY. 



by the offerings of the visitors, who always bring a supply of 

 parched peas and sweetmeats to feed them with. ' l Nor was 

 the general philanthropy that dictated the foundation, en- 

 dowment, and support of such institutions sufficiently dis- 

 criminative. It admits of doubt, for instance, whether it. 

 was prudent or proper, in what was apparently a regular 

 vermin ward or department of the animal hospital at Surat, 

 to maintain such noxious insects as bugs, fleas, and lice, by 

 the provision of human mendicants, male and female, as 

 food supplies for them ! 



There can be no doubt that public provision for sick and 

 disabled animals, and especially for those which are the 

 useful servants of man, is not what it ought to be, even in 

 the most highly civilised countries. Hospitals furnished 

 with all proper appliances for their medical and surgical 

 treatment, possessed of convalescent accommodation and 

 ample exercise ground, are required in all our large cities or 

 centres of population. And such hospitals should include 

 wards or departments for the observation or study, on the 

 one hand, and the treatment, on the other, of all animals spe- 

 cially dangerous to man ; for instance, of those reputedly mad 

 or insane ; that have been convicted of serious biting, kick- 

 ing, worrying, or assault ; or that have otherwise been the 

 cause of accidents to man. Special attention should be 

 given to morbid mental phenomena. Every veterinary school 

 should have its properly-equipped hospital for the study and 

 treatment of all forms of disease, mental as well as bodily, 

 in all species and genera of at least the ordinary domestic 

 animals, such as the horse, dog, cat, and ox. In our largest 

 cities, moreover, such as London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, and 

 New York, there should be hospitals of a public, metropolitan, 

 or national character for particular species of domestic ani- 

 mals, such as the horse, dog, cat, ox, song birds, and poultry. 



Proper maternity hospitals, again, for the larger and more 

 important of our domestic animals, would not only provide 

 homes for suffering mothers at a critical period in their lives, 

 would not only save many mothers and even more offspring, 

 but would enable us to study thoroughly the disorders of 



1 ' Graphic,' January 5, 1876, p. 123. 



