146 
OFFICES AND DUTIES OF 
to the department of the Secretary- at-War. This committee, 
presided over by a general officer, acting or not, is composed, 
besides, of two superior officers and six civil veterinary sur- 
geons, or six individuals eminent in the natural sciences. 
The president and ten members of this committee are nomi- 
nated for three years. The functions of the committee refer 
to all questions that may be submitted to them touching the 
hygiene and disease of troop horses. They will centralise 
the annual reports of veterinary surgeons, and classify them 
in the order of their merit. They will likewise make an ap- 
preciation of papers in which veterinary surgeons may have 
treated questions of hygiene and veterinary medicine, which 
are every year subjected to concours on the suggestion of the 
committee. 
Promotion, 
Art. 5. The classification, by order of merit, of veterinary sur- 
geons proposed for advancement, is made yearly by the cavalry 
committee, at the same period as candidates offer for the 
various grades of superior officers. 
Committee of Purchases, 
Art. 6. The principal veterinary surgeons, or others who 
are members of the committee of Purchases, have a delibe- 
rative voice therein. 
Art. 7. In cavalry regiments and establishments, veterinary 
surgeons are especially charged with the treatment of diseases 
of the horses, on which they practise, at their own responsi- 
bility, all operations they may consider requisite for their 
cure. They are to neglect nothing in the conservation and 
re-establishment of the health of the horses, and, above all, 
in the preservation of them against contagious diseases. 
They are to draw up reports of autopsies of all horses dying 
either through accident or disease, with the view of ascertain- 
ing the cause of dissolution. These reports will be annexed 
to those made by the assistants ( sous-intendants ), in justification 
of the loss of the horses. 
At a depot, and when the regiment is all together, they are 
to propose to the commanding-officer, through the captain’s 
instructions, such hygienic measures as may appear to them 
of a nature to conduce to the conservation of the horses in 
general : should the squadron be detached, such recommenda- 
tions will pass through the chef Pescadron for the week.* 
* This part of the order has since been rescinded. 
