100 
NATIONAL VETERINARY SCHOOL OF ALFORT. 
NATIONAL VETERINARY SCHOOL OF ALFORT. 
DISTRIBUTION OF PRIZES AND DIPLOMAS THEREAT. 
This took place on Sunday, the 2Qth of August, 1852, 
under the presidency of M. Merruau, Secretary General of 
the Prefecture of the Seine, who, in the absence of the 
Minister of the Interior, Agriculture, and Commerce, spoke 
as follows : — 
Expressing the regret of the President being absent, M. 
Merruau assured the meeting of the interest he took in the 
studies of the pupils, his solicitude in this fine establishment, 
his felicitations, &c. 
“ You all know well the esteem the Government sets on this 
useful and learned profession, manifested by a recent act 
which has elevated the rank of army veterinarians, by which 
it is hoped consummate talent and distinguished minds will 
be attracted to pursue a science concerned at once in the 
force and riches of the country. No pursuit renders greater 
service to the country than the veterinary : agriculture, in- 
dustry, commerce, as well as the army, receive vast aids from 
it. The domestic animals contribute to our intelligence, to 
our wants, their superior powers, their wonderful instincts, 
their ever-ready servitude, their entire substance. They are 
at once sources of revenue, machines, means of transport, 
labourers, companions, at times friends even, prime movers, 
clothes, aliment, docile subjects, with abundant experience : 
what are they not to us ? they partake of our labours without 
profiting by them ; of our pleasures without enjoyment in 
them ; of our glory even without hesitation : they live and die 
to serve us, and we seek but too often the secret of our own 
good at the very heart even of their sufferings. Veterinary 
science is still but recent. It dates its foundation but from 
that of the school we are now in, from less than a hundred 
years. The future envelopes many discoveries, among which, 
let us hope, will be found efficacious remedies for some of the 
terrific diseases yet without means of cure.” 
REPORT OF THE TRANSACTIONS AT THE ALFORT 
SCHOOL, 1851-2. 
During this sessional year, clinical instruction has ex- 
tended its observation over 8482 animals of different kinds. 
