MR. YOUATTS INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 7 
Poor fellow ! during the course oi his veterinary education he 
heard nothing of the diseases of cattle, the symptoms by which 
they are distinguished, the causes by which they are produced, 
and the treatment which they require ; and, in point of fact, he 
knows little or nothing about the matter. What shall he do ? 
Shall he boldly face the danger ? He will be at once detected as 
a mere pretender ; and if he be found a pretender as to the treat¬ 
ment of cattle, his knowledge of the horse will be more than 
doubted. He may depend upon it, that, when he is first called to 
a case of this kind, no assistance will be given him. The master 
or the bailiff will fairly, and very properly, put his experience and 
, skill to the test. Shall he at once candidly confess his ignorance ? 
Shall he say that he has attended a hundred lectures on the horse, 
but that the professor did not condescend to deliver one, or the 
examiners deem it worth while to ask him a single question, re¬ 
specting the ox ? 
The agriculturist will not have sufficient good feeling justly to 
appreciate his candour, but will think slightingly of him and of 
the school whence he came. “ These are your veterinary sur¬ 
geons, are they ? ” he will say. “ Give me the old farrier or the 
cowleech : they at least know something about these matters.” 
The horses in all probability soon follow the cattle, and the vete¬ 
rinarian and the Veterinary College are consigned to derision and 
contempt. It is really cruel to place a young man of principle and 
of feeling in a situation so painful and degrading. 
Is there no source whence the student or the surgeon may de¬ 
rive information respecting the medical treatment of these numer- 
i ous and valuable animals? Our veterinary writers are almost si¬ 
lent on the subject. Mr. W. Percivall, although he gives us almost 
all that we could desire respecting the anatomy, physiology, and 
medical treatment of the horse, says not one word of other domes¬ 
ticated quadrupeds, but frankly owns, that, “ regarding them as 
another and an inferior class, little of the time and study of the ve¬ 
terinary surgeon is devoted to them.” 
Mr. Blaine, *at the end of his account of each of the diseases of 
the horse, gives the symptoms and treatment of similar diseases 
in cattle; and his account is generally correct, but far too concise 
to be satisfactory, or of much practical use. His work on the 
diseases of the dog is original and truly valuable. 
Mr. White added a fourth volume to his “ Treatise on Vete¬ 
rinary Medicine,” principally devoted to the maladies of cattle ; 
but a very cursory perusal will convince us that he draws not from 
the pure source of experience. 
Some agriculturists whose lives have been spent among cattle, 
