VETERINARY MEDICINE IN AMERICA. 573 
never be annihilated. This science received their fostering 
care, and grew with their growth. And now, at the present 
period, England can boast of an array of talent in her veterinary 
department which will soon outrival that of the sister science. 
If the medical men of this country will only follow in the foot- 
steps of the illustrious of the old world, and use their influence 
to place this science in the same position that it now occupies 
in Europe, they will earn for themselves an undying fame. 
And we are sure that, if those noble creatures for whose benefit 
this art was first cultivated could speak, they would sing 
higher praises to the honour of their benefactors than human 
tongues ever sang to the honour of Hippocrates, Cullen, or 
Harvey. 
But, alas! the American people have judged of the merits 
of this profession in exact ratio to the talents of those engaged 
in it, which, with a few honourable exceptions, have been of an 
inferior order. Then, again, intemperance, that blighting curse, 
which, like a dire tornado, “spares nothing,” has, not unfre- 
quently, been intimately blended in the character of the here- 
ditary horse and cattle doctor; so that the intelligent and in- 
fluential portion of this community have thought the art un- 
worthy their attention and beneath the dignity of a gentleman. 
Others have supposed that almost any man might prescribe for 
a horse : that a knowledge of anatomy, physiology, pathology, 
therapeutics, and materia medica was not absolutely necessary 
to constitute a man a horse doctor; and thus we find an 
immense mortality attending the best efforts of this class of 
practitioners. Almost all the agents they use would at any 
time kill a well animal, whatever they might do to one in an 
abnormal state. For example, our attention was called, a few 
months since, to a valuable cow, the property of Mr. S., of 
Waltham. The cow was said to have a “stoppage.” This 
state of things was occasioned by a suspension of the digestive 
function. The owner employed an “ hereditary cattle doctor,” 
who, as will be seen in the sequel, converted the poor cow’s 
stomach into a sort of apothecary’s shop. He commenced the 
treatment by administering one pound of salts. The next day 
he gave her another pound. Finding this also failed to have 
the desired effect, he gave her one pound eight ounces more. 
“ She kept growing worse.” A quart of urine was then given, 
followed by two table spoonfuls of gunpowder and a quarter of 
a pound of antimony; and, lastly, thirty-nine drops of croton 
oil were poured down the throat of the suffering animal. The 
cow lingered, in excruciating torment, for twenty-four hours, and 
then died, a victim to the treatment ! The effect of such im- 
mense doses of medicine is, to impair the digestive organs, 
VOL. XXIV. 4 I 
