ON THE VETERINARY MATERIA MEDICA. 43 
I very much regret to learn that no farther change has 
taken place at the Veterinary College relative to the examination 
of veterinary pupils—as it is no uncommon thing, in this part of 
the country, for a young man to leave off striking in a forge, or 
drawing a porter’s truck, and go to London for a fewjnonths, and 
return with a diploma : for instance, there are tw r o individuals in 
this town and neighbourhood practising as veterinary surgeons, 
one of which had no further opportunity of acquiring veterinary 
know ledge than striking for his father, who keeps a little black¬ 
smith’s shop in a small town in a contiguous county: this 
young man w^ent to the Veterinary College, and in nine months 
returned with his diploma. The other was a porter in a drug¬ 
gist’s shop in St. Paul’s Churchyard, in London, who never had 
any opportunity of making himself acquainted with the nature and 
diseases of horses until he went to the College : he was there , 
but a short time, and I am also informed that he has got his di¬ 
ploma. The way in which these gentlemen practise I wall notice 
in one of your future journals, and then the profession shall 
judge how far they are qualified. There is no man in the profes¬ 
sion that respects Messrs. Coleman and Sewell more than my¬ 
self; but w r hen one comes to think of these gentlemen allowing 
such men to receive diplomas in so short a period as I have 
stated, in my opinion a flagrant insult is offered to the profession. 
ON THE VETERINARY MATERIA MEDICA. 
ACACIA CATECHU.— Catechu. 
Class 23 .—Polygamia . The stamen and pistils separate in 
some flowers, and united in others, and either on the same plant 
or two or three distinct ones. 
Orel . 1 .—Mo need a. United flowers, accompanied by male or 
female, or both, and all on one plant. This shrub has the per¬ 
fect flowers, and the male ones only. 
The catechu imported from Bengal and Bombay is the pro¬ 
duce of a large shrub twelve or fifteen feet high, and bearing a 
pale yellow flower, found in all the hilly districts of Hindostan. 
It is procured from the inner wood of the tree. The inner bark 
is exceedingly bitter and astringent, but the inner wood possesses 
more of the astringent principle. This, after being cut into 
chips, is boiled in water until half of the water used is evaporated: 
the liquid remaining undergoes a fresh process of evaporation, and 
it is reduced to a sufficient consistence, and then dried in the 
sun. 
