634 
CHARLATANISM IN FRANCE. 
geons or cattle doctors. Not one of them can read or write. 
Among them is M. Rivemale. Riveraale was once working- 
smith at one of the Messrs. Bouley, in Paris. Having arrived 
at Saint-Affrique in 1829, he surmounted the front of his shop 
with the title of marechal expert, and in that quality he, with¬ 
out control or hinderance, practised on the diseases of domestic 
animals until 1832, when I went to reside in the same town. 
I soon learned that Rivemale had assumed a title that did not 
belong to him, and, on my complaint, the magistrate enjoined 
him not only to efface his assumed name, but to abandon the 
treatment of animals. The first he complied with, but not the 
last; for, a few days afterwards, in cutting off a wart from the 
penis of a mule, he suffered the animal to bleed to death. 
A proces-verhal of this was transmitted to the proper quarter, 
and the delinquent was committed to prison. 
After this, by the advice of his friends, he searches for some 
persons sufficiently complaisant to attest, in writing, his marvel¬ 
lous cures; and then he petitions the Prefect of Aveyron to 
appoint some veterinary surgeons to examine him as to his pro¬ 
fessional skill. Messrs. Boudon and Crouzon, of Rhodez, w'ere 
appointed, and the following is a literal copy of their report:— 
^^WE, the undersigned, Boudon and Crouzon, veterinary sur¬ 
geons at Rhodez, in virtue of directions received from 
Monsieur the Prefect of Aveyron, of the 17th current, to 
cause the Sieur Rivemale, living at Saint-Affrique, to be 
examined on the different branches of veterinary medicine 
and surgery — have met together in one of the halls 
of the prefecture of Rhodez, where, in the presence of 
M. Carrie, counsellor to the prefecture, and delegated by 
the Prefect to be present at such meeting, w^e have, each 
of us, attentively examined the said Rivemale on many 
maladies, internal and external; and after the answers of 
the candidate to all the questions which we addressed to 
him, and particularly on the cure of disease, and on the 
usual operations, we have unanimously concluded, that the 
said Rivemale is very limited in that practical knowledge 
which has been the object of this examination; he being, 
at the most, capable of applying himself to the treatment 
of external maladies, such as wounds, spavin, pricks in 
the feet, and other analogous diseases. We think, beside, 
that he should not, without great circumspection, under¬ 
take the treatment of internal diseases, especially if they 
have a serious character, because he is entirely destitute of 
anatomical knowledge. Neither ought he to deliver legal 
