44 
THE STATE OF 
would ask, under present circumstances, respectfully and kindly, 
have there been given to any class a plain and straight-forward 
and complete course of lectures on the subject? When this 
question was plainly asked at a meeting of the Agricultural 
Society, he could not say that such a course had been attempted : 
and why ? because he had never acquired, or been in a situation 
to acquire, that knowledge of the diseases of cattle which was 
requisite to enable him efficiently to lecture on such a subject. 
Through the exertions, however, of that gentleman, the pupil 
at the Veterinary College has been furnished with the means of 
acquiring the requisite knowledge to a certain extent . Mr. Lay- 
cock’s dairy, at Islington, containing COO or 700 cows, has at cer- 
tain times, and with certain restrictions, been thrown open to 
the veterinary student. What, however, are the diseases which 
he will have the opportunity of studying there ? All those to 
which cattle are liable? No! far from it. He will see some 
cases of diseased feet, and diseased udder, and of the epi- 
demic that may be occasionally prevalent. He may occasionally 
witness some of the manipulations of parturition, but they will 
be few and far between, for, generally speaking, as soon as a 
cow is dry she is sent to the butcher, and she must be a 
favourite indeed if she escapes this doom. 
How little way will this go towards a satisfactory knowledge 
of the diseases of cattle ? Occasionally some of the cattle are 
ill, evidently so. A dose of physic is administered — some gruel 
is made. Possibly blood is abstracted. If she is a favourite, this 
may be repeated on the second day ; but if she is not well then , 
she is sent to the slaughterman — long before the real character 
of the disease can be ascertained , or any light can beam on the 
mind of the student. In the course of the last twelve months, 
72 cows have been thus got rid of in one of the metropolitan 
yards. This seems a most abominable system, but it is the 
system; and then, what advantage can the student derive, 
except in cases of garget or foul in the foot? Therefore it was 
that, although students were admitted to Mr. Laycock’s dairy — 
Professor Sewell oi the English Agricultural Society gratuit- 
ously paying every ex pence for the medical treatment of the 
cows — the owners of other yards peremptorily refused them ad- 
