144 
ON THE VAPOUR OF AETHER 
founding demands upon the conduct of which they are ignorant, 
let them, as a duty they owe to their own characters, investigate 
every circumstance connected with the building. Let the servants 
who have been discharged, and the officers who have quitted, be 
sought out, and their evidence taken. The matter has never been 
sifted, but the madness of individuals urges on inquiry, which 
can now be no longer delayed. Messrs. Sewell, Spooner, and 
Simonds, cannot be in a position to address a Government, and the 
Minister has not yet been born who dare advise the Crown to 
squander its sacred privileges because the undeserving clamour. 
We want a Veterinary College^ — at present we have none. The 
Charter gave the means of establishing such an Institution ; — the 
public must be appealed to to raise the structure. 
When I was just about to seal my letter, I received a commu- 
nication from my friend and late pupil, Mr. Shepperson, who is at 
present in France, and studying at Alfort. An extract may not 
be devoid of interest, as bearing on the subjects alluded to : — 
“ Many experiments have been performed upon dogs and horses 
with sulphuric sether : one dog had the leg broken, and several 
others had them cut off without flinching. Ahorse had of it 
injected into the jugular: he fell almost instantly, and became in- 
sensible to pain ; he so far recovered in about a quarter of an hour, 
as to be able to raise his head and look around him : he died some 
hours afterwards. Several people have been operated upon in 
Paris under the influence of the sether; but in one case a man 
became furious, and jumped out of the window : from that time 
they have thought less of it. This horse abovementioned had but 
just spontaneously recovered from glanders; he was inoculated 
with virus taken from a veterinary surgeon who died of the af- 
fection in Paris. The disease shewed itself with glandular and 
lymphatic tumefaction ; chancres on the parts inoculated, but not 
upon the nostrils : these symptoms increased for a few days, and 
then they gradually receded, and the animal recovered. The clinical 
instructions commence at eight and last until about twelve o’clock ; 
so you can form an idea what practice I see. The Professor has 
about sixty students to help him, and they are mostly employed. 
Sometimes there have been six horses cast at once.” 
