OF VETERINARY PRACTICE. 
311 
feelings” we repudiate — it is a question of calculation, the 
balance struck between the suffering of the present moment and 
the value of prolonged life ; and he who has sufficient coolness 
to enter into this calculation, will never fail when put to the test. 
Pity without weakness, and the blending of the considerate 
friend with the operating surgeon, form a character above all 
price ; and these are qualities oftener blended together than 
many have supposed. 
They who have attended introductory lectures on the practice 
of human medicine have listened with pleasure to the efforts 
always made to allure the young surgeon to the zealous study of 
his profession by a description of its connexion with human 
happiness or suffering. Its cause has been pleaded most power- 
fully and effectively, as based on the principle of humanity. 
Have our lecturers always taken this view of the case — has this 
been the boon or the reward which they have offered to the 
ardent and successful student? This ground has not been taken 
so often and so effectively as it might ; nay, the expounding of 
the law of humanity, in the consideration of the propriety or 
impropriety of certain operations, has been objected to. This, 
surely, must be erroneous — this must almost necessarily lead to 
consequences which even these gentlemen would deprecate. If 
there can be a commendation of veterinary science and practice 
more than another consoling and true, it is its possible, natural, 
inseparable connexion with humanity. Our patients have not 
the intelligence and high moral worth, and importance in society, 
which belong to those of the human surgeon ; but we have enough 
to interest and excite us — to reconcile us to the neglect which we 
often experience, and to assure us, that if we avail ourselves of 
the opportunities that are placed in our power, we shall not be 
altogether inefficient in contributing to the great purpose of crea- 
tion, the production of the greatest possible sum of enjoyment. 
Y. 
