ROYAL COLLEGE OF VETERINARY SURGEONS. 593 
cattle. It has been a growing hope with us to extend our cattle 
practice, since railroads have injured the horse practice; but, alas, 
our hopes are delusive ! What with teaching agricultural pupils 
the medical management of sick animals, and the Cattle Insurance 
Society’s sanctioning farmers to call in farriers and cowleeches to 
treat insured stock, and the host of farriers that are everywhere 
to be met with, assuming the title of veterinary surgeon, the vete- 
rinary profession will become an unprofitable and worthless call- 
ing. I consider the system of teaching agriculturists the mode of 
treating sick cattle an unjust inroad on our practice. Suppose — 
which is equally consistent — that they were taught how to treat their 
own husbandmen when ill, what would the surgeon say] — why, 
resist such infringements on his profession with indignation and 
disgust; and why should not we, as members of a liberal profession, 
enjoy the same privileges as the members of the medical profession] 
I have read with pleasure Mr. Percivall’s description and treat- 
ment of bone spavin. His strongly recommending local bleeding 
at the onset of hock lameness is both judicious and scientific. I 
invariably have recourse to copious local blood-lettings in lameness 
of the stifle, hock, shoulder, knee, pastern, and foot. I am sur- 
prised to find many modern veterinarians adhere to the old practice 
of bleeding from the jugular vein in all cases of lameness where 
bleeding is required, when such decided benefit accrues from local 
bleeding. I am more sanguine about the effects of the actual 
cautery in protracted cases of spavin than Mr. Percivall. Deep 
firing and rest I find of infinite value in lessening the lameness, 
and sometimes getting rid of it altogether. If a second firing does 
no good, I bore down on the bony substance with a budding-iron, 
and introduce a mineral caustic with the happiest result ; but rest, 
and strict rest, too, must be enjoined, otherwise we have danger- 
ous sloughing of the parts. I have met with cases where the ani- 
mal has been put to active work immediately after the caustic has 
been introduced : violent inflammation has taken place, extensive 
and deep sloughing, escape of synovia from the joint, caries of the 
bones, and, ultimately, death in its most aggravated form. 
Some time ago I perused a letter or two in The Veterinarian, 
by Mr. W. A. Cherry, on knee joint lameness. It is an interest- 
