LETTERS TO A STUDENT. 
183 
nerves, belonging to another system ; and they also are excited 
to action, and the expulsion of the air from the cells of the lungs 
is effected, and that as perfectly as the welfare of the animal 
requires. It is thus alone that we can account for the first act 
of breathing in the new-born and untaught animal, and performed 
as perfectly and as effectually as in any period of after-life : it is 
thus alone that we can account for the performance of the function 
of respiration when the animal is asleep, and the will ceases to 
exert its power. 1 will not, however, weary you with farther 
repetition ; you will find this system of nervous action explained, 
perhaps not quite so lucidly as it might have been, yet satisfac- 
torily so, in Dr. Marshall Hall’s Lectures on, and Mr. Clark’s 
Anatomy and Fhysiology of, the Nervous System. 
Another lecture, I hope, will contain every thing novel which 
I wish to offer to you on the other divisions of the spinal organic 
and on the ganglionic nerve. The subject of rabies canina will 
then come before us. 
LETTERS TO A STUDENT. 
Bi) A. B. 
Mr. Editor, 
I send you No. II of “ Letters to a Student.” No. I, 
I am told, has been attributed to yourself. This, though very 
flattering to me, may not be equally pleasing to you. The Col- 
lege students are not what they were if such a letter gave no 
offence. They may be improved. There may be less vice and 
less vanity ; but, if there be any, conjecture, slander and abuse 
will not be idle. Every fool, not knowing that his worthless 
insignificance attracts no attention, will think that he, and he 
alone, is the person alluded to. 
As I do not choose that any man should stand in my place* 
whether for good or for ill, I wish it to be understood, that the 
Editor of The Veterinarian is not the author of these letters. 
They are entirely my own ; and neither Mr. Youatt, nor any 
other person, has any thing whatever to do with them. They 
are written at the distance of many a mile from London, and,, 
until they reach their destination, their existence is known to no 
being but myself. My name shall be told in good time : I will 
probably send it with the last letter. There may be three or 
four more ; but I cannot promise a precise number. 
