THE CATTLE EPIDEMIC. 
83 
race proved the qualifications of the weed to be far superior to those 
of his better-looking competitor, for he nearly distanced him at the 
finish of it. To trace these animals after their racing career will 
afford another proof of the race having been the true criterion of 
the animal. Mundig, from his size and shape, and having won 
the Derby, began his career as a covering stallion under the most 
auspicious circumstances ; but in a few short years his stock proved 
valueless, and he was sold to a Prussian for 400 guineas — a very 
small sum for the winner of a Derby. The other horse, Venison, 
is now covering at 25 guineas, and is the sire of Alarm, and many 
celebrated horses, and is deservedly one of the best stallions in the 
country. 
On attentively considering the circumstances just narrated, and 
which are too well known to admit of their being questioned, I 
think Mr. Cherry would have been likely to have fallen into the 
error of selecting Mundig instead of Venison as a stallion : and it 
was the race that first indicated the error of such a choice ; for, 
had not his qualifications been found good, he might have been 
sold from his appearance for a small sum as a weed. A few weeks 
since, I saw an account of a pony, under 13 hands, trotting in 
harness fifteen miles in an hour. How many good-looking horses 
are there 15 hands high that have no pretension to do the same 
thing ! Sir Harry Smith, or any other general officer, I take it, 
would prefer the one that could perform rather than the one that 
merely looked like performing. Take away the race, and a 
degeneration would ensue that would certainly endanger a breed of 
horses acknowledged throughout the world for their superior 
excellence. 
THE CATTLE EPIDEMIC. 
By John Storry, V.S., Pickering . 
To the Editor of" The Veterinarian.” 
Sir, — The epidemic which has prevailed to such an alarming 
extent among horned cattle in this country for these few years 
past hasffikewise been severely felt in these parts. And since I 
have had to attend great numbers of them in various stages of the 
disease, and as the subject is now attracting the notice of the 
Royal Agricultural Society, who have offered a prize of £50 for the 
best Essay on it, as well as the attention of others who are inte- 
rested in the preservation and healthy condition of our cattle (in 
