INSTRUCTION AT THE VETERINARY COLLEGE. 595 
not of the horse before him. But is not that the same thing ? 
No; not to him who wishes to be master of his subject. The 
anatomist knows that there is more difference in the muscles of 
the horse and the ass (taking, for example, his anterior limbs ; 
and with reference to the endurance of the latter, and the speed, 
extensive action, and endurance too of the former) than one ve¬ 
terinary surgeon in a hundred suspects. 
What would you think if a lecturer were now to endeavour to 
palm off upon his class a great monkey for a human being? 
There may be more points of difference in these two subjects, 
but there are nearly as many points of resemblance. Many a 
year passed before it was discovered that the immortal Galen's 
dissections were all made from the monkey. 
Horses occasionally die at the Veterinary College as well as at 
other public infirmaries. What becomes of them ? Why, old 
Cross, with whom we cannot, try as we will, be long cross —the 
sheer bare-faced impudence of the fellow, and his countenance 
at those times never displaying one vestige of crossness, carries 
him through every thing—this old Cross has contracted for every 
carcass. He can scent a dying horse as keenly as any vulture— 
he is there before the animal has scarcely breathed his last—he 
claps his paw upon the beast—he proceeds in the post-mortem 
examination in his own way—he destroys every thing but what 
it is profitable for him to keep untouched, or he sells different 
parts at a Jew’s price; and science, morbid anatomy! ye have 
only to weep over the butchering work. 
Now, gentlemen, ought this to be so? We are told that the 
price thus obtained is taken from the owner’s bill: but was this 
ever brought fairly before the committee of governors, or the ge¬ 
neral meeting of the subscribers? Would they deprive the pupil 
of the most valuable of all information—worth a thousand lec¬ 
tures—the traces which disease have left, and the symptoms 
which indicated the ravages of disease during life; would they 
deprive the student of this for the paltry chance of recovering 
20s. if a horse of theirs should happen to die at the College ? I 
am sure that this might be very easily altered, and I turn now 
to my Professors, Messrs. Coleman and Sewell, and entreat them 
to get it altered. We should then have opportunity of knowing 
something of the anatomy of the horse, instead of being too 
much—ay ! even the best teachers and writers among us —mere 
ass anatomists. I have already seen enough to be able to tell 
some curious tales about this ass anatomy. Perhaps I may, if 
Mr. Vines does not work me too hard with his regular and per¬ 
fect course of demonstration, give you a few of them. 
There are several other things on which I could have wished 
