THE FRENCH ARMY VETERINARY SURGEONS. 175 
quency of the diseases which prevail among the horses of our 
regiments, and the frightful mortality by which they are deci- 
mated. Every year our losses of this kind, and, at the same 
time, the millions of money which they subtract from our trea- 
sure, compromise seriously our military situation, and most seri- 
ously weaken our cavalry force. We add, that this fact, already 
sufficiently serious in itself, acquires a new and fearful character 
in the deficiency of our resources as it respects the cavalry, and 
the extreme difficulty to keep up our remounts. We, more than 
any other nation in Europe, should feel a deep interest in the 
preservation of our cavalry, because we, more than any other 
country, have not the means of replacing them. 
Then, since our great losses, with reference to our cavalry, 
are occasioned by the serious maladies that destroy the inhabit- 
ants of our barracks, it is clear that the first object which the 
Minister of War should endeavour to accomplish in so unfortunate 
a situation should be to surround himself, and the various recep- 
tacles of our troops, with the advice and experience of persons 
capable of recognizing the causes and preventing the occurrence 
of these unfortunate circumstances ; men, at least, who maybe 
able to diminish the frequency of these unfortunate circum- 
stances, by combatting them with more discernment. 
Thus situated, it is evidently the duty of the administration to 
examine whether it has done all that it ought to have done, in 
order to bring and more especially to attach to the army vete- 
rinary surgeons whose information and experience offer the most 
desirable guarantee as to the full discharge of their duty ; whe- 
ther it has given them a position in the cavalry service that will 
encourage them to do well, properly recompensing their services, 
and at the same time permitting them to exercise their peculiar 
and desirable influence on the health and general treatment of 
the troops. The illustrious Marshal, who at present superin- 
tends the war department, has studied and fully comprehended 
this. He is perfectly aware of that which is essential to the 
proper management of the horse and the duty of the military 
veterinarian ; and therefore he is about to propose in the Cham- 
ber of the Peers some highly useful observations in the manage- 
ment of the cavalry service. 
Before the establishment of the royal veterinary schools in 
1763, and during the eleven years that followed this period, the 
treatment of the horses in different regiments was entrusted to the 
farrier-majors, maitres marechaux. It was not until 1774 that 
young men began to be sent to Alfort, and who, on their leaving the 
school, began to exercise their profession in the cavalry regiments 
under the name of artistes veterinaires, and by which they con- 
