668 
REPORT OF THE FRENCH 
certain prizes — not for essays on subjects selected by them — but 
contributed by veterinary surgeons on any or every topic connected 
with veterinary science. The umpires are veterinary surgeons, 
who are members of the Society. The names of Gasparin, 
Huzard, Yvart, and Girard, during the last year, are pledges as to 
the honourable distribution of the prizes, and of the importance 
which is attached to this concours. 
The English Agricultural Society would do well in offering si- 
milar premiums for essays, the subjects of which, perhaps, were 
not selected by the writers, but by the proper Committee of the 
Society, as those most connected with the interests of the farmer, 
or on which some definite knowledge is desirable to be obtained. 
M. Girard thus reports the result of his own labours and those 
of his colleagues : — 
“ The concours of the present year, relating to observations on 
cases connected with veterinary medicine, will not be less important 
than that of the preceding one. Fourteen MSS. have been pre- 
sented. Several of them contain most important facts, shewing 
that the division of medicine which has reference to the domesti- 
cated animals is rapidly improving. 
“ The First MS. belongs to M. Lacoste, M.Y., at the Depot at 
Caen, who obtained honourable mention in the concours of 1837, 
and a silver medal in 1838. His memoir contains various cases. 
“ 1. The amputation of the tongue of a horse , prodigiously tu- 
mefied, and containing several extensive and deep ulcers. The dis- 
eased part hanging out of the mouth, and pinched by the incisor 
teeth, prevented the animal from eating or drinking. This portion 
was become of a blue colour, and threatened to be gangrenous. It 
was removed by means of the bistoury. The operation was not 
followed by any considerable hemorrhage, and such as it was, it 
soon stopped. A cure was effected in twenty-two days. During 
the cure the horse was fed with barley meal and grass. 
“ 2. This was the amputation of the penis of a dog. It was 
effected by a cruel scoundrel when the animal was tied to a bitch. 
The hemorrhage was very great, and it was fortunate that it did 
take place, for violent fever soon followed the outrage. M. Lacoste 
employed frequent fomentation and emollient injections, together 
with a very restricted diet. A cure was effected in thirty-four days. 
“ 3 and 4 relate to protrusion of the rectum in two horses. 
The portion, reversed and hanging from the anus, was livid, swelled, 
and very painful. The animals, evidently a prey to the severest 
sufferings, did not cease to make the most violent convulsive efforts. 
The patients were placed in a convenient and comfortable place 
where their hind quarters were more elevated than the fore ones. 
M. L. then effected some deep scarifications of the tumefied part, 
