126 PRINCIPAL VETERINARY SURGEON IN INDIA. 
what can his commanding officer say: he is attentive, and 
the latter can judge no further. 
In a debilitating climate like India, with a vast amount of 
idle time upon his hands, surrounded by others equally free 
from any great call upon their time, utterly beyond control in 
his medical capacity, is it to be wondered at that he falls at 
once into habits of idleness, carelessness, and perhaps dissi- 
pation ? Is it to be wondered at, that under these circum- 
stances twenty-seven years have elapsed since first Veterinary 
Surgeons were appointed to the Indian army, and not one 
single volume been produced by them? I answer No ! Pro- 
fessionally, we labour under difficulties that no other class of 
officers suffers ; as I said before, we are generally placed, 
individually, in stations, hundreds of miles between us. In- 
dividual exertion may do much, but perfection in no branch 
of science was ever consummated by individuals ; as you most 
justly say, we require to be linked together, and the ends of 
the chains held by a superintendent; the ebb and flow of the 
little talents we possess should be taken advantage of ; a 
recipient and dispenser is needful, one who can sift the grain 
from the chaff, and from the former feed the hungry with 
the food of knowledge and experience. 
Let me put a case. About twenty years ago, I was in the 
— th Cavalry : a colonel who was characterised as a good drill 
was sent to correct some little failings that had shown them- 
selves to have arisen under the bad arrangements of the 
major; this colonel (he is a general officer now, in England, 
and will laugh over this should it meet his eye) drilled the 
regiment on foot for nearly a year, until the youngest cornet 
could have led it into action ; during the whole of this time 
the regiment was walked out daily for exercise under the 
native “ officer of the day,” and watered before coming into 
lines. Now, by “ standing orders,” the horses are watered 
after feeding in the morning, and before feeding in the even- 
ing; and as you may naturally conclude the effect of a 
draught of water immediately after grain is the production 
of numerous cases of colic. 
The change of orders here reduced the number of these 
cases so materially, in comparison with a troop of Horse 
Artillery, also under my care, that I seized the opportunity 
of endeavouring to effect a remedy. I placed a statement of 
the facts before the commanding officer, who objected to for- 
ward it, because it alluded to the treatment of the horses of 
Artillery not under his command ; 1 gained the sanction of 
the commanding officer of Artillery for it to be forwarded, 
but still my commanding officer objected ; I tried the officer 
