A VISIT TO ALFORT IN 1844. 
369 
was nearly three o’clock in the afternoon when we entered the 
place, so that the poor wretches, as may be supposed, had 
ceased being able to make any very violent struggle ; but the 
deep heaving of the still panting chest, and the horrid look of 
the eyes, when such were , as yet, remaining in the head , while 
the head itself was firmly lashed to a pillar, was harrowing 
beyond endurance. The students had begun their day’s work 
in the least vital parts of the animal ; the trunks were there, 
but they had lost their tails, ears, hoofs, &c. ; and the operators 
were now engaged in performing the more important operations 
in veterinary surgery — such as tying the arteries, trephining 
the cranium, cutting down upon all the more sensitive parts, on 
purpose, as we were informed on expressing our horror at the sight, 
that they might see the retraction of the several muscles, by pinch- 
ing and irritating the various nerves. One animal had one side 
of the head, including the eye and ear, completely dissected, and 
the students were engaged, when we entered, in laying open and 
cauterizing the hock of the same animal. What I have thus de- 
scribed was the result of the observation of a few seconds. I grew 
absolutely sick , and hastened away from this abode of cruelty. 
“ M. Blanc vindicated this practice upon the plea of its neces- 
sity for the advancement of science. A young medical friend who 
accompanied me, exclaimed “ Je suis medecin moi-meme,” — and 
no such practice is necessary. M. Blanc shrugged up his should- 
ers, giving a double hitch to his trapazsei muscles. He was not, 
he said, a “ veterinarian he was merely the military governor of 
the establishment , and he had no right to interfere with the pre- 
scribed curriculum of study. 
“ l shall not insult the feelings nor outrage the common sense 
of my readers by dwelling upon the subject, or by using any 
arguments to demonstrate the non-necessity of such barbarities : 
I may, however, be allowed to remark, that, having been induced, 
through particular circumstances, to direct my attention for many 
years to the teaching of the veterinary art, I can, without the charge 
of presumption, take upon me to affirm, that such practices are not 
more cruel than they are unnecessary in the teaching or in the 
practice of that science.” 
Such, alas ! is the melancholy state of affairs at the most noble 
veterinary institution in the world. 
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VOL. XIX. 
