VETERINARY AFFAIRS. 557 
tation from the charges which you have brought against them, and 
that you will take the earliest opportunity of doing so. 
I remain, Sir, your obedient servant, 
Thomas Walton Mayer, V.S. 
We much regret that so little has been done during the last 
month in the cause of veterinary reform. Perhaps, it could scarcely 
have been expected that more would have been effected in this first 
skirmish, or, more properly, this first demonstration. Thus much, 
however, has been done. A great majority of the veterinary pro¬ 
fession, and that majority hourly increasing, has demanded a sys¬ 
tem of instruction at the Veterinary College more consistent with 
the wants and wishes of the agriculturists, and more worthy of our 
art. 
The earliest record of the institution contained a promise that 
the Veterinary College should form a school in which the anatomi¬ 
cal structure of cattle and sheep, and the diseases to which they 
are subject, and the remedies proper to be employed, should be 
fully investigated, and regularly taught, in order that a greater 
number of enlightened practitioners should be dispersed over the 
kingdom. This was the early promise. It would be superfluous to 
inquire into the causes of this improvement not having even com¬ 
menced until it seemed to be necessary to crush the labours and 
the professional existence of one who was intruding on this neg¬ 
lected ground, for that attempt proved altogether inefficient and 
abortive. We are now, however, arrived at a new epoch ; and 
are anxiously inquiring whether and when the original noble 
purpose of the founders of the College is likely to be accomplished. 
The agriculturist will sternly demand the same, and greater at¬ 
tention to the horse. Do the physiology and the pathology of 
cattle stand a fair chance of being attended to 1 Nearly half a cen ¬ 
tury has passed, and the once Assistant Professor,—who for forty 
years discharged the duties of the stable and of the yard with un¬ 
wearied zeal—who was always to be found when a subscriber 
wanted him, and on that account was become a favourite among 
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