ON THE STETHESCOPE. 
715 
have done so much for the honourable calling of our profession, 
let us study to maintain the high standard to which they have 
raised it. 
The principal purport of this paper is to urge my professional 
brethren, and all who are zealous for the diffusion of improvement, 
to support the Editor of The VETERINARIAN in his arduous task. 
The skill to maintain and the disposition to improve are the mighty 
characteristics in the regeneration of science or state. The Editor 
of The VETERINARIAN has relinquished the more lucrative prac- 
tice of the profession for the general benefit of its members ; he has 
undertaken a difficult duty, and has a right to demand our co-opera- 
tion. The tribute that has so recently been presented to him was 
the just payment of a debt of gratitude; but the obligation con- 
ferred on us remains to be yet more fully discharged by our ear- 
nestly supporting the object most dear to his heart, — the promotion, 
through his instrumentality, of the advance of our profession to 
general respect. What can better promote that unanimity so 
essential amongst us, than the means zealously advocated by Mr. 
Morton, “ the unreserved communication of our professional know- 
ledge V ’ Far be it from us, as a liberal and scientific profession, to 
stem the torrent of light that is now beaming upon us : let us rather 
concentrate its widely diffused rays into a focus, lest, “ by broad 
spreading, it disperse to nought.” By making The Veterinarian 
the source of diffusing, as from a nucleus, the rays of professional 
light, it will convey warmth to the kind heart of its supporters, and 
disseminate our transactions over both hemispheres, until it be- 
comes “ the sun and centre of a thinking world.” 
May I now be permitted to allude to a subject which somewhat 
concerns myself ? Some time ago I ventured to direct the attention 
of the Veterinary Medical Association to the use of Auscultation 
in detecting early pregnancy in the mare. One of my ablest, most 
earnest supporters was the Editor of The VETERINARIAN. We 
differed as to the mode of auscultation, but we cordially agreed as 
to its importance and value. Since that evening I have applied 
the stethescope very successfully in several cases, and can with 
still greater confidence recommend it to the attention of my veteri- 
nary brethren. 
I was applied to by the Rev. R. Aubutin, of Chipstead, to ex- 
amine a mare sent him by his son from Oxfordshire. She was 
said to have gone to horse, but, as she shewed no appearance of 
pregnancy, was ridden as usual. The first time I used the stethe- 
scope I could not distinguish any sound indicative of a gravid 
uterine condition ; but on my second examination, a few days after- 
wards, I distinctly heard the pulsations of the foetal heart. My prog- 
nosis proved perfectly correct, and she has a fine colt now living. 
