12 MR. YOUATT § INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 
horse. The smallest dog requires nearly a drachm ; while six or 
eight grains will purge the largest hog. 
Castor oil is with the dog as bland and safe a purgative as in 
the human subject: with opium, and some aromatic, it is a specific 
for spasmodic cholic in the dog. In the horse it is uncertain, 
irritating, and unsafe. 
Two grains of emetic tartar will vomit the largest, and destroy 
a small and delicate dog. From two to four drachms are, accord¬ 
ing to the opinion of some surgeons, given with advantage to the 
horse as a vermifuge, or a nauseant, or a diaphoretic; and a greater 
quantity has been administered, without unpleasant conse¬ 
quences. 
A drachm of the superacetate of lead would destroy a dog : an 
ounce has destroyed the horse. A pig will drink almost enough 
to float him. 
Canthandes taken inwardly are most irritating and dangerous. 
A hedgehog will eat enough to destroy a whole regiment of sol¬ 
diers. 
A knowledge, therefore, of the diseases of the horse would be 
a very insufficient and dangerous preparation for the scientific 
treatment of those of cattle, sheep, swine, and dogs. 
I will not longer detain you. I have endeavoured to show 
the necessity of an acquaintance with the anatomy and diseases 
of all domesticated animals. It was contemplated by the 
founders of the Veterinary College; it forms an essential part of 
the system of every veterinary school, except that at St. Pancras. 
Other quadrupeds beside the horse will occasionally be your 
patients; and except you have previously studied their ceconomy 
and diseases, you will be most painfully situated. At the college 
you will derive no assistance in acquiring this knowledge, and 
little or none from books. The time, I am perfectly assured, is 
not far distant, w hen either the governors of the college, or the 
profession, or the public, wall interfere, and make the system of 
veterinary education that which it was designed to be, which it 
ought to be, and which it is in every other European school. 
Until that period these subsidiary lectures are attempted. Mr. 
Dick, in his new and excellent school at Edinburgh, considers 
every domesticated quadruped as the patient of the veterinary 
surgeon. This is the first essay south of the Tweed. I can 
derive little or no assistance from the labours of others, except 
from my late partner, the father of canine pathology, on the dis¬ 
eases of the dog. If, then, I am left to my own resources, my 
own % observation and experience, I must throw myself on your 
candour; and, obtaining that, your candour and my diligence 
combining, we shall not, I can venture to predict, quite fail; or. 
