600 
COLLEGE AFFAIRS. 
our treatment, is referrible either to the structural or functional derangement 
of these organs. With respect to the pathological department, I pretend not 
to doubt Professor Sewell’s competency as it regards the horse : but when we 
duly consider the long period which that gentleman has held his previous situa- 
tion — the important duties with reference to the horse which he has had to 
perform — the anxious zeal that was required to enable him to discharge them 
with his wonted ability, it must be admitted that his time has been too much 
occupied to enable him to become a proficient iu the practical knowledge of 
cattle, and, consequently, his lectures on those highly important branches of 
veterinary science can only be regarded as theoretical. That such an onerous 
task should have been imposed on Mr. Sewell appears to me exceedingly ex- 
traordinary, and has the semblance of being an arrangement among gentlemen 
who are more anxious to go with the stream of plausibilities, than to advance 
the progress of practical veterinary knowledge. 
Books are agreeable things from which we may gain the principles of an 
art, and the theatre a necessary place in which we may communicate them to 
others ; but he who attempts to lecture from that alone which he has acquired 
by hearsay, or by reading, can effect but little good, and will, in all probability, 
find himselfj most egregiously mistaken, and with scarcely a pupil to attend 
to his speculative opinions. Every veterinarian who has had but a limited 
experience in cattle practice must be aware that the best teacher is unable 
fully to communicate pathological knowledge without long and attentive expe- 
rience, and it can only be acquired through visiting the abodes of sick ani- 
mals. There we recognize disease — watch its varying symptoms — mark their 
progress — prescribe medicines and appliances according to the indications of 
the case, and often effect a cure by such means as philosophy would not dream 
of. Hence the necessity of clinical lectures, and of previous deep acquaint- 
ance with the subject. 
If the gentlemen who form the English Agricultural Society may be consi- 
dered as the guardians of the agricultural interests, and really intend mutually 
to benefit the farmer and the veterinarian, they should not cease to agitate the 
question of veterinary education until they procure from the governors of the 
College an infirmary for cattle, and a competent lecturer on their diseases. 
There could be but little difficulty in finding among our own body a person 
who has been accustomed to cattle practice, and on whose brow time has fur- 
rowed many a wrinkle of experience — a man who would be enabled efficiently 
to discharge the important duties which would necessarily devolve upon him. 
The initiatory fee is too low to remunerate four lecturers ; but who would 
begrudge an additional ten pounds, if that would insure an education that would 
enable the student to practise his art in the different classes of domesticated 
animals. If those veterinarians who reside in small towns, surrounded by a 
grazing country, are to move in and maintain a respectable station, they must 
necessarily be taught, and fully so, to practise the art in all its branches, or 
they will be driven to pursue some other avocation foreign to the character 
and the interests of an honourable and liberal profession. 
My dear Sir, faithfully yours, 
Samuel Brown. 
Melton-Mowbray, Sept. 15, 1839. 
These are exceedingly valuable letters. They touch on some- 
what different points — they take somewhat different views of the 
subject — but they all harmonize, and cannot fail of making a deep 
impression on veterinary practitioners everywhere, and on the 
Governors of the College. A more decided expression of the sen- 
