THE PAST AND PRESENT 
368 
diminishing , or for awhile destroying , the sensibility of the foot, 
or, in other words, by the operation below or above the fetlock; 
and, as being really and mainly instrumental in establishing the 
credit and high value of the operation, he deserves much com- 
mendation. If to Mr. Moorcroft is to be yielded the first adop- 
tion of the practice, the praise of having rescued it from neglect 
and disgrace belongs to Mr. Sewell. 
And now, regarding the operation of neurotomy as one of the 
most signal triumphs of our profession, and with full confi- 
dence anticipating the near approach of that period, when, if it is 
not extended to other diseases of the horse — and of this I do not 
quite despair — it will at least be made the means of alleviating 
the sufferings of other patients, I make no apology for this intro- 
ductory history of it. We must, however, proceed to take a brief 
survey of the anatomy of the parts on which we are to operate. 
[To be continued.] 
THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF VETERINARY 
SCIENCE. 
No. II. 
By Mr. Thomas Walton Mayer, Jun. 
[Continued from p. 224.] 
In my last paper I attempted to elucidate three points — the 
state of veterinary science during the dark ages, the manner 
in which a change was effected, and the result. 
I might have enlarged more on these heads, and have traced 
the improvements, step by step, that were made by the respective 
authors and practitioners during that period ; and I might have 
also gone into several minor results that were effected by this 
change : but this was not my object. My desire was merely to 
give a general outline of the science during the past, and a 
more extended view of the present, in order that we may form 
some correct views of what is necessary to be done for the 
future. Having said thus much by way of preface, I proceed 
to that second division of my subject, “the period of compara- 
tive light.” 
It will be seen by a reference to various sources, that veteri- 
nary science, at the time when the light began to dawn with 
regard to the administration of its medical part, was but little 
