THE EASTERN CAMPAIGN. 
184 
could not help reverting in my mind to the state of things at our 
own schools, by which young men are thrown on the temp- 
tations of the metropolis, to seek out their lodgings, to pro- 
vide their own meals, to choose their own recreation ; and all 
these without any hand to guide them, or without any voice 
to warn or advise them. 
The buildings at St. Pancras will always impress me for 
the future with the idea that the governors, having erected 
the stables, with a house for the groom on one side and the 
farrier on the other, repented of what they had done, and 
determined not to finish that which they had undertaken. 
The time, however, may not be far distant when such a 
state of things may cease, and when the necessary adjuncts 
are made to the existing institution. When I first entered 
the Veterinary College of London as a pupil, I was much 
surprised to find that nearly every horse in the infirmary 
was lame, and that in most cases a frog-seton was employed 
as a means of cure. In going through the school at Alfort 
I was equally surprised at the great number of cases of lame- 
nesses, arising from treads and quittor. The latter-named 
disease is now very rarely seen amongst our horses, 
thanks to the attention which is bestowed on the 
animals’ feet and to our improved method of shoeing. 
Alfort possesses a very valuable museum, of which, in 
comparison with our own, the less I say the better. 
The only drawback to my visit to this really national 
establishment was the absence of its professors, who had, I 
believe, gone to Paris to visit the Exhibition just then open. 
The next day I left Paris, and on arriving at Marseilles pro- 
ceeded at once on board the mail steamer, and after a very 
pleasant voyage of eight days, calling at Messina, x4thens, 
Gallipoli, &c., we landed at Constantinople. 
It would be foreign to my subject to give your readers 
a description of Constantinople — a fairer city from on board 
the steamer I never beheld, or one placed in a more en- 
chanting position ; but when, in company with the late 
lamented and gallant Colonel Unett, of the 19th Foot, I rode 
up the main street of Pera, I thought I had never beheld so 
gross a deception, or ever witnessed so much dirt, or smelt 
so many stinks. The next day I proceeded to the camp of the 
Turkish Contingent, at Buyukdere, on the Bosphorus, about 
fourteen miles from Constantinople, and was at once 
ordered to do duty with the Land Transport Corps, then 
in course of formation. With this corps, in addition to 
my other duties, I continued until its dissolution in June 
last. 
